Analysis Of Contemporary Canadian Constitutional Crisis

Constitution crisis is a major issue in current Canadian politics. All sides in Canada have made great efforts to bring Quebec's agreement to the Constitution Act of 1982. But so far they cannot make a unanimous agreement on constitution issue so that Canadian federation faces a danger of disintegration. There are many factors that led to the happening of constitution crisis such as history, politics and economy, etc. In this thesis, I tried to analyze the roots, characteristics and the trend of contemporary Canadian constitution crisis by exploring various contradictory struggles in amending constitution, which will surely help us to get the whole picture of Canadian constitutional politics and benefit our state to conduct national issues and keep the national integration.There are five sections in this thesis.Section 1, the roots of contemporary Canadian constitution crisis. In this Section, I emphatically analyzed the origins of constitution crisis from the perspectives of history, politics, economy and culture. The origins of contemporary Canadian constitution crisis can be traced back to early years when Britain conquered the New France colony by force of arms. The inherent limit of the British North America Act and the consequent disputes indicate the future constitution crisis. On the whole, after the establishment of Dominion of Canada, the authority of the federal government was gradually weakened while the provincial power tended to expand. The power change between federal government and provincial governments is related to the change of economic position of provinces. The root of culture is mainly displayed in the culture divergences and contradictions of two main parts between people who have British and French origin.Section 2, the development of the contemporary Canadian constitution crisis. In this Section, I elaborated on the whole process of development of constitution crisis according to the approach of historical analysis. In order to patriate constitution from the British parliament, several proposals had been made. But all of them failed at last because of the opposition from Quebec. Queb6cois Parti that first came to power in Quebec held a referendum over 'sovereignty-association' plan in 1980. With his peculiar resolution and wisdom, Trudeau, an outstanding prime minister of Canada, vigorously guided the process of amending constitution and finally succeeded to bring constitution home to Canada. But Quebec refused to sign the new constitution and causedconstitution crisis. Afterward, two important agreements, Meech Lake Accord and Charlottetown Accord, were made, however, they either failed to get ratified or were rejected. Quebecois Parti held another referendum over sovereignty in Quebec. As a result, the federal side won by slight advantages.Section 3,the characteristics of contemporary Canadian constitution crisis. In this Section, I summarized and analyzed the characteristics through a plenty of materials. Political independence or sovereignty the separatists of Quebec always fought for is the main cause for constitution crisis. Canadian constitution crisis reflected clash, conflict and confrontation over power distribution between federal government and provincial governments, which constituted the main characteristic of all previous negotiations over constitution. It also reflected national contradiction among aboriginals and Anglo-Francophone Canadians. Canadian constitution crisis released some defects in Canadian federation that lack strong cohesion. Following the way of peace and democracy is an obvious characteristic showed in crisis.Section 4,the trend of contemporary Canadian constitutional crisis. I analyzed and predicted the future development of constitution crisis. Now the separatism still has its strong influence in Quebec. However, there are many elements that will prevent Quebec out of Canada. It is very hard for Quebec to separate from Canada. Amending current constitution and striving for francophone rights and status within the frame of federation...