I don't really think that it wouldn't have passed without it. I mean, we were a cohesive country prior to the 1980s, and some provinces were willing to toss that all away if we didn't give them the ability to trample the rights outlines in it? In retrospect it seems more like provinces just wanted to eke out as much power as they could. That it hasn't been the political suicide that PET and others likely thought it could be doesn't mean anyone had the prescience to think people would try; and especially for the wholly frivolous reasons it's already been used for, too.