Constitution Act, 1980: Is it Constitutional?

Abstract

The history of constitutional amendment in Canada supports the inference that the residual power of amendment in the United Kingdom Parliament was intended to preserve the federal core of the constitution where no government within Canada could act unilaterally. The courts could legally enforce this intention through their interpretation of the amending power. Recent decisions interpreting the amending powers of the Canadian Parliament and
the provincial legislatures rely on historical intention. For Canadian purposes there is good reason to apply the same process of judicial review to the amending power of the United Kingdom Parliament. The author suggests that the best way out of the present constitutional stalemate within Canada, if one indeed exists, would be by reference to the Canadian people in a referendum, rather than to the Canadian Parliament which is likely to be biased.