The Court affirmed the existence of an unwritten dimension to the Constitution and the majority held that by constitutional convention, amendments to the Constitution require a substantial degree of provincial consent. However, a differently-constituted majority of the court held that there was no legal barrier to the federal government seeking a constitutional amendment without any provincial consent.
Aftermath
The decision was unique at the time as it was the first to be televised live on national television.
The decision has a broader significance to all common law jurisdictions as it is authority for the proposition that a convention cannot, even through long and rigorous usage, "crystallise" into law.
