Constitutional Amendments In Canada

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

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