The Canadian Federalist Experiment: From Defiant Monarchy to Reluctant RepublicIn The Canadian Federalist Experiment Frederick Vaughan details how the fathers of Confederation, defiantly determined to perpetuate monarchical government despite Enlightenment philosophy that insisted that republicanism was the only legitimate form of government, embraced the Hobbesean principles of the English constitution and embedded them in the new Canadian constitution in 1867, leading to concentration of power in the office of the prime minister. He then argues that Trudeau's 1982 Charter quietly undermined the monarchic character of the constitution by introducing republican principles of government. The result has been old institutional structures at odds with the republican ambitions, leaving Canada clinging to the wreckage of the old aristocratic order while attempting to provide a new order founded on republican equality. Vaughan shows how, at the time of Confederation, Edward Freeman, a Cambridge historian who convinced John A. Macdonald to experiment with what no one had ever heard of before, a "monarchic federation," and Jean-Louis DeLolme, a popular French authority on the English constitution, helped forge a new federal constitution with a strong central government and a chief executive armed with the powers necessary to govern. Vaughan examines how these principles were undermined by the judicial activism of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which paved the way for the significant expansion of judicial power under the Charter since 1982. |
Contents
in England and America | 7 |
From Royal Prerogative to Responsible Government | 22 |
The Foundations of Eddystone | 49 |
An Object Much to be Desired | 76 |
The Ambiguous Embrace of Federalism | 91 |
The Courts and the Rise of Judicial Power | 115 |
A Nation of Christians | 134 |
The Charter Court and the Decline of Parliament | 152 |
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adopted Alexander Galt American constitution Anglican Assembly authority Britain British constitution British North America British Parliament Brunswick Burke Canadian constitutional Cartier Catholic central government century Charles Tupper Charlottetown Charlottetown Conference Charter Christian Church civil clergy reserves colonies consti Constitution Act constitutional framers Crown Debates delegates DeLolme democratic document election England English constitution ernment executive favour federal government federal system federal union form of government formal Freeman French Revolution Haldane Hamilton Hobbes House of Commons Ibid institutions John judges Judicial Committee judicial review jurisdiction Law Lords liberty London Lower Canada Macdonald Maritime provinces matters ment monarchical Montesquieu nation North America Act Nova Scotia parliamentary peace plan of union political prime minister Prince Edward Island principles Protestant provincial legislatures Quebec City Quebec Conference Quebec resolutions reformers regime religion republic republican government role section 91 Senate sovereign spirit Supreme Court tion Trudeau tution Upper Canada