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The Constitution Act, 1996 forms part of the provincial constitution of British Columbia. The Act outlines the powers and rules governing the executive and legislative branches of the provincial government of British Columbia. British Columbia is the only province of Canada to have such an act; the constitutions of other provinces are made up of a diffuse number of sources.^[1] Despite this, even the Constitution Act is not truly exhaustive, as certain aspects of the province's constitution are not included in it.^[2]

Prior to its enactment, the powers and rules of the British Columbia executive and legislature were derived from the British Columbia Terms of Union, which officially joined British Columbia into Canada. Those terms of union, in turn, continued the government established in the terms of union between the Colony of Vancouver Island with the Colony of British Columbia.^[3] The British Columbia Terms of Union is still part of the Constitution of Canada.^[4]

References

^ Albert, Richard (June 2015). "Constitutional Amendement by Stealth". McGill Law Journal. Retrieved 2024-04-13. A constitution can be, but does not need to be, contained in a single document called the constitution. There is very little that is singular about provincial constitutions in Canada. Provincial constitutions are found in multiple sources, including portions of the Constitution of Canada, ordinary provincial legislation, common law, and the unwritten constitutional conventions typical of Westminster-style governing. With the exception of British Columbia, which is the only province that has a written document titled a constitution, the contents of provincial constitutions are not exhaustively listed or defined.
^ Albert, Richard (June 2015). "Constitutional Amendement by Stealth". McGill Law Journal. Retrieved 2024-04-13. Even British Columbia's Constitution Act does not contain the entirety of the province's constitution and what may be missing from the Act is not necessarily clear.
^ Government of Canada, Department of Justice (1999-11-03). "Department of Justice - Final Report of the French Constitutional Drafting Committee". www.justice.gc.ca. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
^ Branch, Legislative Services (2020-08-07). "Consolidated federal laws of canada, THE CONSTITUTION ACTS, 1867 to 1982". laws-lois.justice.gc.ca. Retrieved 2024-04-13.