209 AMENDING the BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT. Every
209 AMENDING THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT. Every Canadian should be inspired by the vision of the Fathers of Confederation in their conception of one vast nation of the British Provinces in North America, stretching from sea to sea, and by the ability and courage they displayed in putting their patriotic vision into practical effect. But the B .N.A. Act makes no special provision for its amendment and the suggestion is sometimes made that this point was overlooked. I believe the Fathers of Confederation assumed that any amendments to the Act would, as the occasion arose, be made by the Imperial Parliament . I can find no reference in pre-Confederation speeches to the amendment of the proposed Act, except that in the debates of the Canadian Parliament of 1865 the Hon . D'Arcy McGee said :- "We go to the Imperial Government, the common arbiter of us all, in our true Federal metropolis-we go there to ask for our fundamental Charter. We hope, by having that Charter can that only be amended by the authority that made it, that we will lay the basis of permanency for our future government." -"Canada Confederation Debates", (1865) page 146. There is a very substantial part of the Canadian Constitution outside the B.N.A. Act, which, following British precedent, grows. and develops. The B .N.A. Act, however, can only be amended by statute and, defining as it does the legislative power of the Dominion and provinces respectively, the question as to how it should be amended has of late years become a matter of increasing importance .
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