Let’s remember who and what we are — a federation

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On Thursday, Nov. 20, National Post published a front-page article claiming that Quebec was preparing to unilaterally declare its independence. This is an exaggerated and inaccurate interpretation of Quebec’s draft constitution. In order to set the record straight and allow for an informed debate, we want to clarify what Quebec’s draft constitution is — and what it is not.

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For starters, Quebec’s draft constitution in no way denies nor undermines Canada’s status as a sovereign country. Rather, it describes the Canadian federation as it was originally conceived: a union of autonomous federated states — provinces — where each level of government, not subordinate to the other, exercises its powers within its own areas of jurisdiction. It is inaccurate to claim that Ottawa has “supreme authority” over provincial parliaments. Neither the Constitution Act of 1867 nor modern case law establishes a hierarchical........

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