Constitutional debate in Canada
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Constitutional debate of Canada is an ongoing debate covering various political issues regarding the fundamental law of the country. The debate can be traced back to the Royal Proclamation, issued on October 7, 1763, following the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) wherein France ceded most of New France to Great Britain in favour of keeping Guadeloupe.
Since the enactment of the Constitution Act, 1867, which brought the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia together as Canada, the debate has focused on these issues:
The interpretation of the Constitution
The division of powers between the federal and provincial governments
The type of federalism to be applied within the federation
The way the constitution should be amended
The inclusion of specific civil rights in the constitution
Historical overview
The initial policy of Great Britain with regards to its newly acquired colony of Quebec was revealed in a Royal Proclamation on October 7, 1763. The proclamation renamed Canada "The Province of Quebec", redefined its borders, and established a British appointed colonial government. The new governor of the colony was given the power and direction to summon and call general assemblies of the people's representatives.
The status quo
The current Constitution of Canada consists of the 1867 British North America Act (BNA) and subsequent amendments.
Distribution of legislative powers
The BNA Act defined the areas of jurisdiction for the provinces and the federal government. There are 29 exclusive federal jurisdictions and 16 provincial jurisdictions. The provincial jurisdictions are listed under sections 92, 93 and 95 of the constitution.
The BNA Act granted the federal parliament all "residuary" powers not already defined as provincial.
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This entry incorporates text from “Constitutional debate in Canada” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.