Introduction : competing perspectives of Canadian federalism / Michael Burgess -- Federal societies and the founding of federal states : an examination of the origins of Canadian confederation / Ronald Wagenberg ... [et al.] -- The jurisdictional pendulum within Canadian federalism, 1867-1980 / Peter A. Russell -- Canadian imperialism as nationalism : the legacy and significance of the imperial federation movement in Canada / Michael Burgess -- Perennial alienation : the prairie west in the Canadian federation / David E. Smith -- Quebec-Canada relations : the engineering of constitutional arrangements / Alain G. Gagnon -- Atlantic Canada : the dynamics of dependence in a federal system / James Bickerton -- The Canadian Parliament and the federal system / Michael Rush -- The MacDonald Commission and Canadian federalism / Ronald L. Watts -- The Meech Lake Accord in historical perspective / Lloyd Brown-John -- Conclusion : Past, present and future / Michael Burgess.