From the Ivory Tower to the Courtroom: Cooperative Federalism in the Supreme Court of Canada.

This article provides the first comprehensive quantitative analysis of the Supreme Court of Canada's use of the term "cooperative federalism" in its jurisprudence from 1976 to 2019. It finds that the Court referenced cooperative federalism in twenty-four cases, with usage increasing notably after 2010, marking a shift from a formative period of consensus to a contested era characterized by judicial disagreement over the principle’s application. While the Court generally agrees on the definition of cooperative federalism as intergovernmental collaboration leveraging constitutional powers, justices diverge on whether it can limit established constitutional doctrines or alter the division of powers between federal and provincial governments. The analysis also indicates a slight tendency for decisions invoking cooperative federalism in jurisdictional disputes to favor federal authority, though the principle has not yet matured into a constitutional doctrine but is recognized as a constitutional principle influencing federalism cases.