elopment of medicare spread throughout Canada. Citizen choice. By providing for regional and local self-government and for freedom of internal mobility, a federal union gives citizens many choices of government jurisdictions offering different "packages" of taxes, public services, and civic values. Thus, federalism permits citizens to "vote with their feet" by leaving, or threatening to leave, a jurisdiction. This puts pressure on governments to match public services to public preferences. Public service efficiency. Federal systems are often accused of being inefficient because there can be duplication of services. It may take longer to make some decisions than would be true under benign centralization. However, history seems to show that centralized governments are, in reality, generally less efficient and more wasteful. A federal system allows for an efficient delivery of public goods by enabling governments to provide public services that are economically appropriate to their territorial jurisdiction (e.g., defence by the general government, highways by state government, and trash collection by local government) and much responsive to citizen needs and preference. ...
