The constitution is the highest level of authority in Canada, every branch of the government is compelled to follow it; the judicial system is inclined to enforce it, the executive has to obey it, and only the government can approve its amendment- on varying levels dependant on the areas being amended. As times change so does the relevancy of articles within the constitution. I argue that the government should not be responsible alone in approving such changes. Since Canada is systematically run under the constitution, and is a democratically run Responsible Government, appropriate decision-making about its amendments should be carried out by the people through national referendum.
The British North American Act of was established in 1867
…show more content…
For example, one formula for amendment declares that Parliament can singularity make constitutional changes that have to do with the Federal government offices, likewise, provincial amendments may be decided upon by provinces alone unless it has to do with language rights of a province. This type of change requires consent of both the parliament and the provincial legislature to be approved. There are two other amendment formulas to understand before delving into the matter of national referendum. Constitutional amendments that adhere to five categories can only be changed if the Federal parliament and all provinces are in consensus about the change. These five areas include any changes to the use of either of Canada’s two national languages, the organization of the Supreme Court, the Crown, the Provincial rights to member of parliament representation being equal to or more than the number of senators, and ironically, changes to the rules of amendment itself. Now the general amending formula works for all other kinds of changes, in which instance at least half of Canada’s population in two thirds of Canada’s provinces as well of the Federal government must all agree on the changes. These current formulas for constitutional amendment assure that no changes can be put into place without a massive range of support from across the
The amendment process as stated in the Constitution is the process that “An amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, or, if two-thirds of the States request one, by a convention called for that purpose. The amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the State legislatures, or three-fourths of conventions called in each State for ratification.”. There are many pros and cons of the amendment process and I will discuss a few of them in this essay. In my opinion, there are more cons than pros of the amendment process. A con of the amendment process is that there isn’t much room for change as time goes on Better said as the amendments are outdated.
We also may have never had a federal dominion, which was created with this law. This created legislative power as well and later provinces, which could make laws exclusivly over. These laws included education, hospitals and provincal constitutions It prevented a different change because if these laws never happened, Quebec may have left the Dominion of Canada
To pass an amendment you need to have two-thirds of the members in both houses voting. Another way to pass an amendment is by two-thirds of the state legislatures asking Congress for a convention to propose amendments. Through the process, the formal amendment process must occur in three-fourths of the state legislatures or a favorable vote of three-fourths of all of the states. The process looks this way because the Founders did not want the government to be able to
When looking at the current state of Senate in Canada today, many provincial governments are unhappy with their position in parliament and how their voices are being heard in the federal government. Senate reform has been a popular topic for over 60 years, with minimal changes toward how Senate has been run since the Constitution amendment in 1982. Originally, the Senate was to be a platform where regional representation was shown at the national level, and at its creation was credited with three main duties: to give proper representation of the regions of Canada, to be a ‘sober second thought’ for the House of Commons legislation, and to represent the population for Canadian interests. Many view that these duties are not being properly done by the current senate and have in many
The Government was changed again. The British Loyalists came to Quebec and affected Canada so much they had to split it into upper and lower
The Amending Formula protects the Constitution from being unjustly altered, this is done through Mr. Trudeau’s purposeful decision to make it nearly impossible to change the constitution. The steps required to amend the Canadian constitution include the approval of the Senate, then the approval of the House of Commons and the legislatures of at least seven of the ten provinces, if these provinces represent at least 50% of the population of Canada. This is also known as the 7/50 rule. Thus, the Amending Formula has been designed to ensure it will never be unjustly altered regardless of the regime it is under, attesting to the fact that the Amending Formula effectively provides legal stability, and
First of all, the federal government was now able to deal with language and other rights issues more effectively. Since Canada now had control over the constitution, the federal government was now able to ease tensions created by French and English relations. Moreover, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was entrenched in the Constitution. This meant that it was firmly established in Canadian law, and that it would be extremely hard for it to be removed or changed in any significant way. Likewise, the rights of Aboriginals were entrenched in the Constitution.
The Constitution says that an amendment may be proposed either by Congress or a constitutional convention. Congress must have a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. So far, none of the 27 amendments have been suggested by constitutional convention. The President does
The Harper government agreed that because it would only alter the powers of the Senate that then it should only have to be passed federally. (458) The government ruled against them and said they would need to use the general amending formula. (459) Abolishing the Senate would fundamentally change Canada 's constitutional structure by removing its bicameral system (Synder 4)
The Senate: “The upper chamber of Parliament where there are 105 members who are appointed until age 75 by the Crown on the advice if the prime minister.” (Rules of the Game pg 106)The original Senate that was created in 1867 had only originally 72 seats. It was created to counter balance representation population in the House of Commons, although in recent years the Senate has become to reinforce representation of groups that have often been underrepresented in parliament, examples; Aboriginals, visible minorities and women. There has been a huge debate’s on whether Canada should keep the Senate. The people all over Canada have mixed opinions on if we should keep the Senate or not.
The monarchy in Canada is a continuous debate among the politicians and individuals. This paper aims to present the advantages and disadvantages of the monarchy in Canada. This way will enable us to take a clear position. First, Canadian politics are known for their divisive attitudes, and it is very hard to get consensus on decisions. The Queen plays the role of reference for the Canadian politicians and their decisions.
The constitution can be amended by this process. The states will all be represented in congress and will have rights to make laws for their states. The senators are chosen
The Senate in Canada should be abolished Introduction: Canada senate is a part of legislation institution in Canada, which represents the interests of upper class people. Different from America, it is not produced by election but directly-nominated by the premier and appointed by governor. Senate, governor, and the House of Commons are like three legs of a tripod which constitute the congress and legislation system in Canada. Senate undertakes the responsibility of proposing expostulation to governor and cabinet, which acts the role of supervision and restriction. Senate played critical role when Canada established federal government in 1867, the diversity of senators warrants the smooth convey of popular will to governors and legislators coming from different ethnic group and social status.
This corrupt system as some refer to it has many people confused and wondering what benefits are for Canadians. A specific case of the Charter being ineffective is the case Arsenault-Cameron v. Prince Edward
Meanwhile the Cabinet was investigating the possibility of considering a new constitution and how it could change to a republic. The likely outcome would be setting up a commission to recommend a new constitution to be approved by a referendum before being submitted to Parliament for ratification. Internally, opposition was beginning to come from all parts of the political spectrum- one group classed