BRITISH NORTH AMERICA BILL. [H.L.] (Hansard, 4 July 1940)

§ VISCOUNT CALDECOTE

My Lords, this Bill arises out of a judgment which was given in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council^*in 1937, holding that the Employment and Social Insurance Act, 1935, passed by the Dominion Parliament, was ultra vires that legislative body. The Canadian Government and Parliament thereupon desired that the decision should be reversed, and they have taken steps to secure that this should be done. There is no power in the British North America Act to amend that Act in the Dominion Parliament. Consideration has been given to the question as to the best method of amending that Act, but no decision has been reached, and when the Statute of Westminster was passed a clause was inserted to Section 7 (1) of the Act providing that the amendment of the British North America Act should be excepted from the general powers conferred by the Statute of Westminster upon the Dominion Parliament. The Bill has been framed upon the basis of an Address to the King, and its provisions are generally in accordance with similar legislation which has been passed from time to time amending the British North America Act. I beg to move that the Bill be now read a second time.