Yes, Mr. Paquette, it does constitute an amendment to the Constitution, but it is an amendment that is authorized under section 44, because that section allows Parliament to make laws amending the Constitution of Canada in relation to the Senate. And it only exempts from that power the four matters I talked about earlier.
Let's leave the Senate reference aside for a minute, because we don't agree on that, but section 42 withdraws from the unilateral power of Parliament the powers of the Senate, the method for selecting senators, the number of members by which a province is entitled to be represented in the Senate, and the residence qualifications of senators. Since the term limits don't touch any of those four things, the amendment comes within Parliament's power under section 44.
I say that the upper house reference is simply overtaken by these provisions, because what the Supreme Court of Canada said is that certain fundamental or essential things could not be done unilaterally by Parliament. Two years later, the Constitution Act of 1982 specified the things that cannot be done unilaterally by Parliament, and surely that was intended to be a reflection of the fundamental things that cannot be done unilaterally by Parliament, making it clear that what the Supreme Court said was extremely vague.