multiplied as their policies and programmes have multiplied: an elaborate structure of federal-provincial conferences and committees, never contemplated in the Constitution, has developed to meet this need. The governments of the provinces have sought to meet the needs of their people in new ways, and in so doing to give expression to the differences in heritage and tradition to be found within their borders. Federal governments, in their turn, have assumed the responsibilities now characteristic of a flourishing modern state, and have sought in so doing both to renew the forces of unity in Canada, and to adapt their institutions and their policies to the diversity characteristic of the country. In the process the relative roles of the federal and provincial governments have gradually changed and their capacity to contribute to the unity or the diversity of Canada similarly has shifted.
The adaptations thus brought about in the functioning of federalism have been so great, particularly in the past few years when the pace of change has been so rapid, that there has been a growing belief that our basic constitutional arrangements require re-examination. The Confederation of Tomorrow Conference was a constructive and a helpful contribution toward this end; it focussed attention on the very goals of the Canadian federation. It is the hope of the Government of Canada that we shall be able at this Conference to take the next step: that the federal and provincial governments will now undertake together a positive and a constructive review of the kind of constitution which is called for by the goals that have been discussed.
If this Conference agrees to embark upon such an endeavour, we hope that we will be able at this meeting to decide on how we should proceed. In the view of the Government of Canada we should begin by identifying the principal elements of the Constitution, and agree on which of them are most urgently in need of review. We have already suggested to the governments of the provinces that first priority should be given to that part of the Constitution which should deal with the rights of the individual — both his rights as a citizen of a democratic federal state and his rights as a member of the linguistic community in which he has chosen to live. In agreeing to place this item first on our agenda the federal and provincial governments have in no way overlooked the critical importance of determining which of the functions of government should be assigned to the two orders of government in Canada. Rather we have proclaimed our belief that the rights of people must precede the rights of governments. Accordingly our discussions will begin with a consideration of “The Rights of Canadians”, under which heading we will discuss a proposed Charter of Human Rights, and the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism concerning linguistic rights.
The Government of Canada would further propose that, having agreed on the elements of the Constitution which ought to be reviewed, and those which should be considered first, this Conference should reach a
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“[A]n elaborate structure of federal-provincial conferences and committees”. In fact, these are unconstitutional, as witnessed in Pope’s correspondence of Sir John Macdonald, who refused to recognize or countenance a similar attempt by a Quebec government in the early Confederation.
“Accordingly our discussions will begin with a consideration of “The Rights of Canadians”, under which heading we will discuss a proposed Charter of Human Rights …”: The “rights” facade under which the federally-controlled Supreme Court of Canada will convert Canada to Communist “values” by defining the so-called rights in accordance. As one example, the dissolution of the legal bond of traditional marriage and the patriarchal family by Justice Frank Iacobucci, lauded by Lorraine Weinrib.
“[A] proposed Charter of Human Rights,” … which will destroy the British Westminster-model Parliament in Ottawa, and every provincial Legislature in the country.