New bottles, but the same old wine: Canadian subfederal engagement in the United States

This paper describes and assesses recent international activism by Canadian provinces – also known as “paradiplomacy” with an emphasis on interaction with American states. The title of this paper is a play on the cliché about placing new wine in old bottles; meaning trying to squeeze something new into an established pattern or order. We argue the bottles (established order) have changed but the wine being poured into them has not (familiar strategies); same wine into new bottles. We simply ask why that is the case and theorize that established strategies are the result of embedded ideas regarding the legitimacy of specific subfederal foreign relations and just as much about the pursuit of provincial objectives in Canadian federalism as international goals. As an extension, we conclude that familiar subfederal strategies retain a functionalism and consistency in Canadian federalism that disincentivizes strategic innovation.