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The problem is that the Sherbooke Declaration repudiates the doctrine declared by the Supreme Court of Canada in its 1998 response to the reference on secession. Justin Trudeau is correct when he points out that a mere 50 per cent plus one vote to obtain secession contradicts the court’s requirement that “a clear answer to a clear question” must be required before negotiations on secession could be triggered.

It is at the heart of the Faustian bargain that Jack Layton and Thomas Mulcair proposed to Quebecers: vote for us instead of the Bloc Québécois and we will deliver in return a guarantee that Quebecers can secede unconditionally if that is what they want.

It’s not a mere matter of numbers: if a referendum campaign is carried out on other issues than secession — such as inviting federalists to vote “Oui” to strengthen Quebec’s bargaining muscle, as happened both in 1980 and 1995 — then clearly there is no “clear answer to a clear question,” regardless of the specific numbers. To trigger negotiations, the court said, the choice of Quebecers for secession must be clear, without ambiguity.

But that isn’t even half the problem. The Sherbrooke Declaration posits Quebec’s right to secede unilaterally. The court proclaimed that secession is not a right, whatever the number of the vote for secession. But a clear answer would trigger negotiations. That is what the Sherbrooke Declaration totally ignores. The court pointed out that aboriginals have rights. Official language minorities have rights. Canadians from other provinces have rights when they enter Quebec. To be legitimate, secession can be obtained only by amending the Constitution through the existing amending formula. Other provinces have the right to say no, just as Quebec has a right to ask and argue for a yes.

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The primary duty of a prime minister of Canada is to defend the constitutional order and the unity of the country. That is an issue, latent or explicit, in every federal election campaign. On both counts, the Sherbrooke Declaration proposes violating the constitutional order and it threatens the peace, order and good government of Canada.

National Post