1 Quoted in Skelton, O. D., The Life and Times of Sir Alexander Tilloch Gall (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1966), 96.Google Scholar

2 Letter from Premier Clyde Wells to J. W. Pickersgill and R. L. Stanfield. January 15. 1990, 5. Emphasis in the original.

3 The Fathers of Confederation did not speak for aboriginal inhabitants of the lands over which the British claimed sovereignty.

4 Cairns, Alan C., “Citizens (Outsiders) and Governments (Insiders) in Constitution-Making: The Case of Meech Lake,” Canadian Public Policy 14 (1988), S121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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9 There are many accounts. Fora more recent one, see Morris, Richard B., Forging the Union, 1781–1789 (New York: Harper & Row, 1987).Google Scholar

10 For the political theory of the French-Canadian rebels, see Monière, Denis, Ideologies in Quebec: The Historical Development, trans, by Howard, Richard (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981), chap. 3Google Scholar. For the constitutional ideas of the Upper Canadian rebels see Kennedy, W. P. M., The Constitution of Canada, 1534–1937 (2nd ed.; London: Oxford University Press, 1937), chap. 11.Google Scholar

11 Creighton, Donald, The Road to Confederation (Toronto: Macmillan. 1964). 381.Google Scholar

12 These were the words Macdonald used in the Confederation Debates. Waite, P. B., ed., The Confederation Debates in the Province of Canada (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1963). 156.Google Scholar

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14 Vipond. Liberty and Community.

15 Ibid., 235.

16 See Sabetti, Fillipo, “The Historical Context of Constitutional Change in Canada,” Law and Contemporary Problems 45 (1982), 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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18 Sovereign at least in a legal sense, but also, to the extent that the amending system is based on a genuine social consensus, sovereign in a moral sense.

19 For a discussion of the various proposals, see Gerin-Lajoie, Paul, Constitutional Amendment in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1950).Google Scholar

20 Even as liberally-minded a Canadian as Frank Underhill poured cold water on such suggestions. (Ibid, 234.)

21 For an account of these events, see Neary, Peter, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, 1929–1949 (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1988), chap. 10.Google Scholar

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24 To the best of my knowledge these terms are not used elsewhere in the literature. My distinction draws from Elazar, Daniel J., “Constitution-making: The Pre-eminently Political Act,” in Banting, Keith G. and Simeon, Richard, eds., Redesigning the State: The Process of Constitutional Change in Industrial Nations (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985)Google Scholar. Elazar distinguishes constitutional politics which addresses “the existence of the body politic itself” from constitutional politics which may result in comprehensive re-writing of the constitution without addressing the fundamental nature of the political community itself.

25 For a recent account, see Clarkson, Stephen and McCall, Christina, Trudeau and Our Times (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1990).Google Scholar

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27 For an analysis of the parallel between religious and nationalist conflict, see Knopff, Rainer. “Quebec's ‘Holy War’ as ‘Regime’ Politics,” this Journal 12(1979), 315–331Google Scholar. For an account of the English-Canadian nationalism based on Trudeau's constitutionalism, see McRoberts, Kenneth, “English Canada and Quebec: Avoiding the Issue,” Sixth Annual Robarts Lecture, York University, Toronto, March 5, 1991.Google Scholar

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30 The Special Joint Committee of the Senate and of the House of Commons on the Constitution of Canada (Molgat-MacGuigan Committee), Final Report (Ottawa: Information Canada, 1972). Chapter 7 on “Self-Determination” does not base this right on provinces but on contiguous, homogeneous communities.

31 For accounts of constitutional politics in the 1970s, see Smiley, Canada in Question, 79–88; Cairns, Alan C., “The Politics of Constitutional Renewal in Canada,” in Banting, and Simeon, , eds., Redesigning the StateGoogle Scholar; Stein, Michael B., Canadian Constitutional Renewal, 1968–1981 (Kingston: Institute of Intergovernmental Relations. 1989).Google Scholar

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33 For a detailed account see Romanow, Roy. Whyte, John and Leeson, Howard. Canada … Notwithstanding (Toronto: Carswell/Methuen, 1984).Google Scholar

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37 There are many accounts of the referendum. For a very balanced account, see McRoberts, Kenneth, Quebec: Social Change and Political Crisis (3rd ed.; Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1988), chap. 9.Google Scholar

38 For a detailed account of this period of constitutional politics, see Zukowsky, Ronald J., Struggle Over the Constitution: From the Quebec Referendum to the Supreme Court (Kingston: Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, 1981).Google Scholar

39 Cairns, “Citizens (Outsiders) and Governments (Insiders) in Constitution-Making.”

40 Russell, Peter H. et al. , The Court and the Constitution: Comments on the Supreme Court Reference on Constitutional Amendment (Kingston: Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, 1982).Google Scholar

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43 Dufour, A Canadian Challenge.

44 Trudeau used this phrase in his May 1987 newspaper article attacking the Meech Lake Accord. See Cohen, Andrew, A Deal Undone: The Making and Breaking of the Meech Lake Accord (Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 1990), 165.Google Scholar

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46 See Hawkes, David C., Aboriginal Peoples and Constitutional Reform: What Have We Learned? (Kingston: Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, 1989).Google Scholar

47 Milne, David, The Canadian Constitution: From Palliation to Meech Lake (Toronto: James Lorimer, 1989).Google Scholar

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49 Quebec was the only province to hold hearings on the Accord between the agreement in principle at Meech Lake on April 30, 1987, and agreement on the final text at the Langevin Block in Ottawa on June 3, 1987.

50 In the Speech from the Throne on May 13, 1991, the federal government has made parliamentary reform a major element in its approach to constitutional reform (Canada, House of Commons Debates, May 13, 1991, 5).

51 Globe and Mail, June II, 1990.

52 Already a number of books have been published on the post-Meech round. They include: Fournier, Pierre, A Meech Lake Post-Mortem, trans, by Fischman, Sheila (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1991)Google Scholar; Resnick, Philip, Toward a Canada-Quebec Union (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1991)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Smith, David, McKinnon, Peter and Courtney, John, eds., After Meech Luke: Lesson for the Future (Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1991)Google Scholar; Watts, Ronald L. and Brown, Douglas, eds., Options for a New Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991)Google Scholar; and Young, Robert, ed., Confederation in Crisis (Toronto: James Lorimer, 1991).Google Scholar

53 Quebec and British Columbia are both committed to including referenda as part of the constitutional process. For Quebec, see Report of the Commission on the Political and Constitutional Future of Quebec (Belanger/Campeau Commission) (Quebec: Secrétariat de la Commission, 1991). For British Columbia, see Smith, Melvin H., A British Columbia Perspective (Victoria: Queen's Printer for British Columbia, 1991)Google Scholar. In the Speech from the Throne, May 13, 1991, the federal government announced its intention to introduce “enabling legislation to provide for the greater participation of Canadian men and women in constitutional change” (Debates, 3).

54 See, in particular, A Quebec Free to Choose: Report of the Constitutional Committee of the Quebec Liberal Party (Allaire Report) (Montreal: Quebec Liberal Party, 1991).

55 Friedrich, Carl J., Trends of Federalism in Theory and Practice (New York: Praeger, 1968), 39.Google Scholar

56 The frustrating nature of constitutional politics is further elaborated in Russell, Peter H., “The Politics of Frustration: The Pursuit of Formal Constitutional Change in Australia and Canada,” in Hodgins, Bruce W., Eddy, John, Shelagh, S.J.Grant, D. and Struthers, James, eds., Federalism in Canada and Australia: Historical Perspectives (Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1989).Google Scholar