It is most appropriate, in these opening months of Canada’s second century as a federation, that the Prime Minister of Canada and the first ministers of the ten provinces should meet to consider the measures that can be taken to make the achievements of our second century even greater and richer than the first.
It is fitting to say “even” greater for we must not be unaware of the enormous strides that Canada has made since the meetings of 1864 and 1866, when men with similar responsibilities to those at the present Conference sought to devise the means by which they could make a better and more abundant life for the people they represented. With ingenuity, determination and courage — and with a faith in the capacity of people of different places and origins to work together for larger purposes of common good — they devised arrangements that they thought would best achieve those ends. And they did their work well. We are aware of the imperfections of the British North America Act, but in the context of the time its accomplishment was an act of great statesmanship. No one can be sure what the fate of the colonies would have been had they not federated. But one thing we can be sure of: divided, small, exposed and weak they could never have achieved what we enjoy today.
The arrangements by which a new political entity was established and embodied in the British North America Act, undoubtedly were not perfect even for that day. Over the years, as they were translated into action and practice, deficiencies were bound to be revealed, and new problems were certain to arise. The one that has assumed the greatest dimension is the dissatisfaction of the people of Canada of the French language and culture with the relative positions of the two linguistic groups within our Confederation.
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Pearson: “the meetings of 1864 and 1866, when men with similar responsibilities to those at the present Conference”: extraordinary, Pearson assumes for himself and his friends a role the Constitution denies; they are acting here as the NEW founding fathers of Canada, with a view to eradicating Confederation, which is permanent and cannot be eradicated. Then note the subsequent statement: “The arrangements by which a new political entity was established and embodied in the British North America Act, undoubtedly were not perfect even for that day.” Focus on the phrase “new political entity” and this is what Pearson sees himself and his friends about to create, to replace Confederation and dispossess its founders.