Practical federalism describes how Canada's federal government and municipalities work together directly on various initiatives, despite municipalities not being recognized in the Constitution as a separate order of government. While constitutionally cities answer to provinces, practical federalism acknowledges that many urban challenges—housing, transit, climate change, immigration settlement—benefit from direct federal-municipal collaboration. Programs like federal infrastructure funding, the National Housing Strategy, and immigration settlement services involve the federal government working directly with cities. This pragmatic approach recognizes that effective governance sometimes requires bypassing strict constitutional hierarchies to address issues where federal resources and municipal delivery make sense together.