Council of the Federation: An Idea Whose Time has Come

Abstract

In 2001 a Special Committee of the Quebec Liberal Party proposed the creation of a Council of the Federation. Newly elected Quebec Premier Jean Charest put this proposal, in modified form, before the Annual Premiers Conference in July 2003. The concept of establishing an institution such as the Council has been raised before in the context of constitutional reform, particularly in the period between the 1976 Quebec election and the 1981 constitutional patriation agreement. More recently the matter was raised during the negotiations leading to the 1992 Charlottetown Accord. The purpose of this paper is to examine its antecedents. Others writing in this series of articles on the Council of the Federation (Council) will comment in greater detail on the specifics of the Quebec proposal.