Constitutional Odyssey

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.

As Peter Russell points out in his introduction, this edition adds to
the original work a new chapter on the negotiations that led to the
Charlottetown Accord and the 1992 referendum that rejected the accord.
Also added is a new conclusion.

In the first edition, Russell, who is one of Canada’s leading
constitutional scholars, presented his readers with a well-documented
discussion of Canada’s constitutional quest. The work aptly described
the events that led us to Charlottetown in 1992. In this edition,
Russell continues his excellent scholarship and writes with a style and
a flair that makes his work accessible to both scholars and general
readers alike.

His analysis of the Canada Round II (1992) is detailed, comprehensive,
and analyzed. Unfortunately, he devotes less time to the referendum
campaign than he does to the construction of the Charlottetown Accord.
He concludes that our preoccupation with mammoth constitutional change
is over. The next round, if it takes place, will not be to prevent a
crisis, but rather to end one. The author’s contention that “the
Canadian people may have become constitutionally sovereign without
having constituted themselves a people” may well be the best epitaph
for the Charlottetown Accord.

This excellent work should be read by all Canadians who care about the
future of their country.