Prof. Malcolm Lavoie publishes new book examining the economic framework of the Canadian Constitution

With the publication of his new book, University of Alberta Faculty of Law Associate Professor Malcolm Lavoie is putting renewed focus on a long-overlooked topic: the way in which the Constitution structures Canada’s economic relations. 

Trade and Commerce: Canada’s Economic Constitution was released this month by McGill-Queen’s University Press. Over the course of 10 chapters, Lavoie illuminates the economic vision of the Constitution – including its foundational commitments to property rights, local government autonomy and the principle of subsidiarity, economic integration and free internal trade – and examines how this lost vision can be revived and renewed for the 21st century. 

In doing so, he argues, there will be implications for a number of different policy areas. Ongoing contemporary issues related to topics such as interprovincial trade and jurisdictional disputes between federal, provincial and Indigenous governments, for example, can be guided by the framework of the economic Constitution.  

The Centre for Constitutional Studies is hosting a book launch for Trade and Commerce on March 2 at 5:00 p.m. in the Law Centre. For more information and to register, click here.