LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Constitution of Canada: Quebec Act
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While Canada has a written Constitution, the Supreme Court has recently been busy developing unwritten constitutional principles which have been used to resolve diverse issues ranging from judicial compensation to Quebec secession to the legality of hospital restructuring. This paper provides an overview of the development of unwritten constitutional principles and explains their importance to modern constitutional litigation in Canada.
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Italian political theorist Giovanni Sartori noted the existence of national constitutions which are a façade for authoritarian sources of power. While such documents may express respect for human rights or establish an independent judiciary, they may be ignored when the government feels threatened or entirely dishonoured in practice. An extreme example was the Constitution of the Soviet Union that on paper supported freedom of assembly or freedom of speech; ... citizens who acted accordingly were summarily imprisoned. (Incidentally, this led to a famous Radio Yerevan joke: Someone asked Armenian Radio: What is the difference between the Constitutions of the USA and USSR? Both guarantee freedom of speech. Armenian Radio answered: In principle yes, but the Constitution of the USA also guarantees freedom after the speech).
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Speech by the Hon. Jean Lesage, Premier of Quebec on the theme of the Conference and ... protection of human rights, repatriation of the Constitution, etc, pp. 25-34 (in French); appendix "A", pp. 126-33 (English translation).
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This consolidation contains material prepared by the late Dr. E. A. Driedger, Q.C., which was last published by the Department of Justice in 1986 under the title The Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982. The material has been updated where necessary but the Department gratefully acknowledges Dr. Driedger's earlier work.
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Quebec Act