Clarity Act

The Clarity Act (or Bill C-20) in Canadian politics was a federal bill which laid out new rules by which provincial secession would be governed. It was first tabled in the House of Commons on December 13, 1999. It was subsequently passed by the House on March 15, 2000 and by the Senate on June 29, 2000, at which point it became federal law.

The motivation behind the Clarity Act was largely based on the near separation vote of the 1995 Quebec referendum, in which the people of Quebec voted by a razor-thin margin, 50.58% to 49.42%, to maintain current relations within Canada. Many federalists were caught off-guard by the results and there were concerns over the manner in which the referendum had been allowed to be carried out. Among the strongest complaints were the ambiguity of the question posed and that Quebec had been allowed to act unilaterally without consultation with the other provinces or the federal government.

The process began when Quebec lawyer and staunch federalist Guy Betrand filed a private suit against the Quebec government asking that future referendums like that of 1995 be prevented. Eventually the case was taken over by lawyers representing the federal government. On September 30, 1996, the problem of "clarity" was given to the Supreme Court of Canada. Specifically, they were posed three questions: whether the Constitution of Canada permitted a province to secede unilaterally; whether international law permitted a province to secede unilaterally; and, in the case of a conflict between the two, which would take precedence in Canada. On August 20, 1998, the Court concluded that Quebec did not, in Canadian or international law, have the right to secede from Canada unilaterally, but that if a clear majority of Quebec's population voted in favour of secession, the rest of Canada was obligated to negotiate Quebec's separation.

The Clarity Act (Bill C-20) was subsequently drafted and presented to the House of Commons December 13, 1999. The key points of the draft included:

• giving the House of Commons the ability to decide whether a proposed referendum question was clear prior to the public vote;
• defining what a clear question was, specifically that the question could not result in an act not directly and necessarily indicated by the question as posed;
• increasing provincial and Aboriginal input into the referendum process, negotiations and considerations;
• allowing the House of Commons to override a referendum decision if it felt the referendum violated any of the tenets of the Clarity Act.

The Clarity Act was strongly opposed by the Bloc Quebecois in Canada's parliament and the Parti Quebecois within Quebec. The Progressive Conservatives under Joe Clark also opposed it. Although the Clarity Act has still occasionally been criticized for limiting Quebec's desire for absolute self-determination and freedom, these by and large have been muted. Even in Quebec the act has provoked only minor reaction. Some go as far as to state a similar situation could never happen again, feeling that a "legal" referendum would be impossible for sovereigntists to win. However, since no referendum has been held the bill is still largely untested.

The Prime Minister at the time, Jean Chretien, has often cited the Clarity Act as among his proudest achievements in federal politics.

See also

• 1995 Quebec referendum
• Money and the ethnic vote
• Quiet Revolution
• Politics of Quebec
• Politics of Canada

External links

• Text of the Clarity Act
• Info and text of bill