Edward McWhinney – författare

The debate over ‘renewing’ Canadian federalism in response to the ‘Quiet Revolution’ in Quebec and the more recent economic demands of English-speaking provinces forms part of a great response to the challenging problem of rebuilding the federal system and the Canadian constitution in an attempt to meet new cultural, social, and economic demands. This volume follows on Professor McWhinney’s Quebec and the Constitution 1960-1978 but is more than a mere sequel. McWhinney draws on wide knowledge and extensive personal contacts to portray the players and the events in this last, complex chapter in the patriation drama. He shows how Quebec’s special claims have given way to a regional approach; how the prime minister sacrificed the possibility of a genuine Canadian-made constitution by trying the old ‘made-in-Britain’ amending route one last time; how the British government properly and firmly resisted the meddling in Canadian matters proposed by the Kershaw committee; how the Supreme court has taken an increasingly activist role in interpreting constitutional law; and how the people of Canada may yet take a major role in the coming second phase of constitution-making now that the BNA Act has finally come home.Extensive appendixes provide invaluable primary material: various versions of the constitutional resolution, including the complete final version approved by the Canadian and British parliaments; the Guy Fawkes Day accord between the prime minister and the nine premiers; and extracts from the Supreme Court’s decision on Senate reform, from the decisions on patriation by the courts of appeal of Manitoba, Newfoundland, and Quebec, and from the Supreme Court’s famous ruling on the ‘legality’ and ‘conventionality’ of unilateral patriation, which produced the final round of constitutional negotiations between Ottawa and the provinces.

The Quiet Revolution and two major language bills have transformed Quebec society. Ottawa’s response to Quebec’s constitutional demands has been slow and erratic. Today Ottawa’s bilingualism policies are under heavy criticism. To complicate matters, the English-speaking provinces are seeking more autonomy; and the centralizing economics of John Maynard Keynes – our modern ‘father of Confederation’ – are being challenged. Can our constitution cope with these stresses? Should it be amended, rewritten – or perhaps simply ignored?

Edward McWhinney offers the first thorough analysis of nearly two decades of constitutional development. His book examines Quebec’s demands since 1960 for social, economic, linguistic, and political self-determination, and the implications of these demands for our federal system. It also looks at the new pressures on such federal institutions as the Senate and the Supreme Court coming from the constitutional proposals of the English-speaking premiers. The responses of successive federal governments, up to the Constitutional Amendment Bill of 1978, are studied.

Since the election in 1976 of a Quebec government officially committed to separatism, the province has begun, without constitutional challenge, to transfer power to new social and economic elite. Edward McWhinney scrutinizes the mechanisms of Quebec’s transformation and, in his general survey of constitutional evolution, suggests new possibilities for a truly ‘cooperative federalism’ and ‘renewed’ Confederation.

This book has its roots in a conference on Law and World Affairs held in the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, in January, 1964. Specialists representing government, universities and the press met then to discuss the response of the West in general, and of Canada in particular, to recent far-reaching changes in Soviet external relations. These changes are seen as reflected in the apparent East-West détente following the peaceful resolution of the October, 1962, Cuban crisis, as well as in the successful achievement of the Moscow partial Test Ban treaty in August, 1963.

The volume begins with an analysis of the changes in Soviet international life in the era of de-Stalinization -- changes which necessarily condition and affect the practical conduct of foreign policy by the Soviet élite. Next, there is an examination of distinctive theories of international law and relations, and their impact on and significance for classical, Western-based theories and Western policy-making in general. Emphasis then shifts to more specifically Canadian questions, focussing on Canadian responses to Soviet moves in international arenas such as the United Nations General Assembly''s Sixth (Legal) Committee, the International Law Commission, and the authoritative International Law Association. The later essays look to the opportunities presented for independent Canadian initiatives in East-West relations in the light of changes in the Soviet Union and the Soviet bloc generally. Finally, the issue of the possibility, in the present era, of co-existence and cooperation among states with different social systems is examined.

The contributors are Professor John N. Hazard, Columbia University; Professor Harold J. Berman, Harvard University; Professor Edward McWhinney, University of Toronto; The Honourable Paul Martin, Minister for External Affairs, Ottawa; Blain Seaborn, Head of the Eastern Section, European Division, Department of External Affairs, Ottawa; J. Alan Beesley, Legal Division Department of External Affairs, Ottawa; Professor H. Gordon Skilling, Director, Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Toronto; Mark Gayn, editorial writer, Toronto Daily Star; and the Soviet Ambassador to Canada, the Honourable Ivan F. Shpedko. This record of their ideas on some current trends and developments in international relations will appeal to both laymen and specialists interested in foreign policy and foreign affairs.