The National Capital
If the organs of government in Ottawa should reflect the federal character of the country, the nation’s Capital should be a symbol of Canada. Ottawa and the Capital region should be a model of what we think Canada should be — in particular, as our capital, it should be a model of bilingualism and biculturalism. The Government of Canada has begun discussions with the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec under whose jurisdiction the Ottawa Hull area falls, on arrangements which could be made to achieve this goal.
These discussions will have to take into account both the jurisdictional and the municipal interests which are the proper concern of the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. We are pleased that the Prime Ministers of these Provinces have been so ready to discuss this question with the Government of Canada.
These are the Government’s general views on this second element of Canada’s constitutional and governmental arrangements. The central organs of government and the guarantees of the rights of the individual and of linguistic duality in Canada, are important instruments of federalism. The Federal-Provincial Conference should consider how they could be made most effective in serving Canada’s second century.
Canada in the World
Before turning to the third element of Canada’s Constitution which we would expect to discuss in the series of constitutional conferences we have proposed, the Government of Canada feels special mention should be made of Canada’s international presence.
Canada can have only one international personality. We think that Canadians generally want and expect their country to be seen abroad as a single united country — as Canada. This requires, in our view, that the Government of Canada continue to have full responsibility for Canada’s foreign policy and for the representation abroad of Canada’s interests.
This is not to deny the interest that provincial governments have in international matters which touch upon their own jurisdiction. This interest can be recognized and protected by ensuring that the Government of Canada exercises its international responsibilities in the proper manner, and by co-operative arrangements between the federal and provincial governments in international matters of mutual concern. There is no evident need to provide the Provinces with special powers in this field. Indeed no federal state has found it necessary or desirable to confer independent treaty-making powers on its provinces or states, or, with the single exception of two of the republics of the USSR for very special reasons in 1945, to allow for a separate presence in international bodies or independent diplomatic representation. The reason is obvious. Such powers or representa-
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