A Case Study on Interest Group Behaviour in a Federal System: The AIDS Lobby Groups in Canada

EUGENE CIPPARONE

ABSTRACT

In a federal state such as Canada, sound policy decisions are often brought about by the interaction and cooperation of federal and provincial governments, as well as by the participation of interest groups in the decision-making process. It is argued that interest group behaviour is an evolving process that is dependent on several dynamic variables, including the nature of the policy issue, the structure and organization of the interest group, the changing needs of its constituents, and the number of access points to government decision-makers made possible by divided jurisdiction. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has forced policy-makers at all levels of government to respond to the social and legal issues it has created. This article attempts to document the formation, organization, and activities of the various interest groups formed in response to the challenge of AIDS, with a particular emphasis on the effect that contemporary Canadian federalism has had on their development and behaviour. Specifically, this article will focus on five substantive aspects of the evolution of the AIDS lobby groups: the movement from local municipal concerns to national, non-territorial policy issues; the structuring of the interest group into a federal organization; the institutionalization of the advice-giving function, concomitant with the separation and distancing of the volatile political elements; the utilization of multiple cracks and access points to government, and the issue of AIDS surveillance and testing; and the creation of mechanisms and instruments for formalized interest group participation.

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Citation: (1992) 50(2) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 131.
Copyright © 1992. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
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