Former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau Once Wrote That While It

question 13

Essay

Former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once wrote that while it was the fashion to be critical of the federalism rulings of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, if the JCPC had not interpreted the constitution as it did, Quebec separatism might have been an accomplished fact and not simply a possibility. Discuss some of the early court rulings on the federal division of powers and explain why you think Trudeau was mainly right or wrong.

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Definitions:

Critical Value

A point on a statistical distribution that is compared with the test statistic to determine whether to reject the null hypothesis.

Test Statistic

A numerical value calculated from sample data, used in hypothesis testing to determine whether to reject the null hypothesis.

Null Hypothesis

A default position that indicates no difference or no effect, set to be tested and possibly rejected in favor of an alternative hypothesis.

Test Statistic

A value calculated from sample data during a hypothesis test used to make a decision about the null hypothesis.