With the establishment of the Northern Parliament and functions of the union state, one of the tasks of this parliament is to work with the governments of Canada and New England on working out a constitution for eventual full federation in the next few years. To do this, all parties have sent delegates to a conference being hosted in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The town was chosen due to it also hosting the Confederation Conference back in 1864 that led to the creation of a unified Canada.

The Canadian Proposal

The Legislature

Our proposal for the legislature of the Northern Union is a tricameral system of government that incorporates elements of the governmental systems present both in New England and Canada. The lowest chamber would be parliament, which would be a body of proportional representation functioning similarly to the present Canadian parliament. Its head would still be the prime minister, a topic which will be later discussed. The middle chamber would be the Senate, though a senate in the American sense rather than Canadian one. Each province and state would receive equal representation in this body, with two senators for each. Territories would receive a single representative in this body. This body would not be allowed to draft legislation on its own, but rather, would ensure that the smaller provinces cannot be overtly detrimentally affected by the wills of the larger provinces. The final, topmost chamber, would be simply referred to as the Upper House. This relatively small body would be appointed by the president (again, discussed later) to look over all legislation. Filled ideally by experts in various scientific, social, and political fields, they would be the 'body of second sober thought' present in the Westminster system, and would only be able to block legislation that was particularly destructive with a supermajority. Otherwise, a bill would pass through the body and into law.

In essence, the top two chambers would function mostly to look over and approve legislation while parliament would be the ones tasked with actually drafting and debating it.

The Executive

Canada and New England maintain rather different systems of executive government. In Canada, the Queen remains the official head of state, while in New England, the president maintains this role with considerably more power. After recent polling on the matter, our proposal involves the final removal of royalty and monarchy from any governing role. Instead, we propose the following.

A semi-presidential system seems to be the best way forward. A prime minister, derived from parliament, would carry most executive power by commanding the legislature and setting its agenda. It would represent the most powerful party in the legislature, and thus would be mostly in charge of domestic and economic policy. Alongside the prime minister would be a popularly elected president. The president would act as the head of state and serve as the country's figurehead, but also exercises real power. They would be head of the military (and thus, defence policy) as well as foreign affairs, and would also be in charge of appointing the representatives in the Upper House as well as Supreme Court justices (later discussed). This part of the proposal was inspired by the system currently used in France.

The Judicial

We would propose here actually using the American system. Nine supreme court justices would be appointed by the president and confirmed by parliament. Their main task would be to ensure that the government acts within its legal bounds (judicial review).

Federal Power

Another reconciliation that has to be made between the Canadian and New England systems of governments is the delegation of powers to the provinces and states. In Canada, the provinces maintain a large amount of powers, and we would propose that the Northern Union functions in a similar way. The federal government would be tasked with defense, national-level commerce, and federal infrastructure, while the provinces (and states) would retain the extensive powers they maintain now. While this will bring practically no change to the Canadian provinces, it would lead to the New England states gaining more autonomy than they previously maintained.

Other

• We would recommend the Northern Union's capital to remain Ottawa. The city has existing capacity to host federal facilities and has an economy that would be damaged by removing federal functions from it. Compare this to Boston, which has only recently had government facilities forced into its cramped city centre and maintains a thriving economy even without a federal presence.

• We recommend a national competition to design the symbolism and flag for the Northern Union.

• We recommend that the bilingualism measures recently passed in Canada become Union-wide to ensure that the Quebecois are fairly accommodated in the Union.

• 5-year terms for all elected officials in the federal government.

Response

We are eager to hear the New England opinion on this, and look forward to a hopefully lively and productive discussion on the government that will hopefully serve us both well in the future.