After the referendum, Trudeau acted upon his promise by calling together the provincial premiers in a first ministers' conference. The meeting showed signs of deadlock, and Lévesque surprised observers by uniting with the dissident premiers, who warmly received his decentralist views. Facing a lack of cooperation from the premiers, Trudeau then announced his intention to unilaterally patriate the constitution from the United Kingdom and have a charter of rights and constitutional amending formula approved by national referendum.