About

Following Quebec’s referendum to secede from Canada in 1995, I intervened before the Supreme Court of Canada in the Reference regarding the secession of Quebec (1997). The Court’s decision compelled me to study Canada’s constitutional evolution to discover the political structure and the democratic mechanism permitting the harmonious conciliation of the unity with the diversity of Upper and Lower Canada in the government of the Province of Canada at the time of Confederation. The study revealed the constitutional basis upon which the dual prime-ministership of this form of Responsible Government emerged; how checks naturally arise within this structure to ensure that the “rule of Government shall be the well-understood wishes and interests of the people”; the injustice requiring constitutional reform; how the scheme of Confederation attempted to resolve this dissatisfaction by extending this model to form a truly federal model of the British constitution; how this was accomplished through the letter of the Constitution Act (1867); and how and why it was set aside before the first parliament of the Dominion was ever assembled. I undertook the Institute of Responsible Government to make known and further conceptualise this form of Responsible Federalism.

Research Interests

Constitutions, Federalism, Governance, Institutions, Parliaments, Political Participation, Representation, Power

Current/Upcoming Events

VINCENT has not yet registered for any ECPR events.

Standing Groups and Research Networks

• Federalism and Regionalism
• Parliaments