Constitutional Politics: The Canadian Forum Book on the Federal Constitutional Proposals 1991-92

Agar Adamson is the author of Letters of Agar Adamson, 1914–19 and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

1992 was a bonanza for books on the Constitution and, in particular, on
the Charlottetown Accord. But the result of the referendum that was on
October 26, 1992, has relegated many of those works to the back shelves.
Constitutional Politics deserves a better fate. Although it was
sponsored by The Canadian Forum, readers who disagree with that
magazine’s political philosophy should not dismiss the book out of
hand. Included are a wide range of essays on property rights, aboriginal
rights, gender equity, social policy, Senate reform, and Western
discontent. (There is nothing on Eastern discontent, which was certainly
a reality in 1992.)

A.W. Johnson, an old Ottawa and Regina public servant, writes with
passion on the need for a strong central government that is nevertheless
willing to accommodate. Franзois Rocher provides an interesting
analysis of “Quebec’s Historical Agenda,” while Duncan Cameron
contributes a well-written argument on asymmetrical federalism
(essential reading given that one of the most misunderstood issues in
1992 was asymmetry).

As Cameron states in his introduction, this book is designed to
“exhort governments to do better, and point the way for citizens to
become more aware of the democratic capacity to shape the future.” A
compelling reason for taking it off the back shelf.