According to Professor Alain Noël, the idea of a Canadian "social union" was a "fairly recent" one at the time of his writing in 1998.
However, Noël notes some politicians and academics believed the social union in Canada was older, having been established at Canadian Confederation or after World War II.
[1] Entrenching a social union into the Constitution of Canada was discussed in 1992 with a package of ultimately rejected amendments called the Charlottetown Accord.
[1] The agreement reached in 1999 recognized a number of principles and rights of Canadians, including common quality for social programs across Canada, and health care in Canada with "comprehensiveness, universality, portability, public administration and accessibility."
As scholar Jennifer Smith notes, "There is no additional requirement of a population minimum" of the provinces supporting the programs.