Article content continued

Regional conflict is not new in Canada, or in other federations. These conflicts can arise over “taste” (i.e., cultural and historical issues) or “claim” (economic resources). Conflict of taste is due to differences among regions with respect to laws and the role of government. Conflict of claim arises from rich regions transferring resources to support other parts of the country. Conflict of claim is most difficult to manage when a small, rich region is expected to support a large, poor region, because it takes large per-capita transfers from the small region to make any meaningful impact on the incomes of those in a more populated region. The recent uproar in Spain over Catalonian independence illustrates both conflicts.

Regional conflict is not new in Canada, or in other federations

Catalonia has a distinct language, as well as distinct laws and customs. While various Spanish kings tried to conform Catalonia (and the Basque Country) to Spanish ways, the strategy eventually failed. After Catalonia elected a separatist municipal government in 1931, it won its autonomy from Spain in 1932. The autocratic Franco regime stripped that away after the Spanish Civil War in 1938, reasserting centralized control. But democracy returned to Spain in 1975 and Catalonia regained its autonomous status in 1979 when Madrid divested spending and judicial powers to various regions.

Catalonia is also a rich, industrialized region accounting for a fifth of Spain’s GDP, with a per-capita GDP one-quarter larger than the Spanish average. After the debilitating 2008 recession, Catalonian resentment grew as Madrid collected much of the region’s wealth — estimated at eight per cent of Catalan GDP — to transfer to other Spanish regions. This month, Catalonians voted 92 per cent in favour of independence in a referendum that the Spanish government tried to block and declare illegal.