The Demise of Canada's Confederation
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's decision in October 1980 requesting Great Britain to "patriate" (send to Canada) the Canadian Constitution marked the beginning of an ominous political and constitutional struggle within Canada whose outcome will profoundly affect the way that country is governed in the future. The sizable majority of seats held by Trudeau's Liberal party in the House of Commons insures that his plan will receive Canadian parliamentary approval; ' but seven of the ten provinces expressed disapproval of Trudeau's constitutional proposals because of his insistence on including a Charter of Rights and Freedoms and an amending procedure that is unacceptable to most provincial governments.2 Trudeau's decision to bypass the provinces in this crucial matter and to rely for support on his parliamentary majority in Ottawa threatened to bring on a confrontation with both Quebec and the western provinces, one which could well shatter the 114-year-old Canadian Confederation. The British North America Act of 1867, Canada's basic law, contains no