The Charter at 25
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Charter, which is a significant milestone in Canada's evolution. It is hard to believe that something so important and ingrained in the Canadian psyche didn't exist at the time I was born, which was only 26 years ago. Being only a 1 year and 28 days old, I obviously have no memories of the negotiotions involved, but certainly have felt the impact since then.
I am disappointed Harper and his cabinet will not speak at the event commerorating the signing, but I've attacked Harper enough of the Charter, so I don't know to elaborate on this further as my views in the past have been very clear and have not changed. Instead I will focus on what the Charter has meant.
Getting 7 of the 10 provinces with 50% + 1 of the population is no easy task and does making some compromises. It is why we have the notwithstanding clause and don't have property rights in the Charter. Some would argue depending on which side of the political spectrum you come from that the Charter shouldn't have been signed without either dropping the notwithstanding clause or including property rights, but I would argue that an imperfect charter is far superior to no Charter at all. More importantly using the notwithstanding clause has become so politically risky, that few politicians dare to use it. In the case of property rights, likewise, our property rights are just as strong as the United States who has it in their constitution and I would argue since it is so ingrained in the Canadian psyche, any politician who routinely violated property rights would be turfed.
However, other rights, especially equality and language rights weren't so popular amongst the public at all times and therefore it was essential they were put in the Charter so that minority rights couldn't be overriden when not popular. The Charter may have not been perfect, but when considering how difficult it is to achieve a consensus on something as major at this, it was about as good as it was plausible and that is something to be very proud of. Regardless of one's political stripe, it is something that benefits all Canadians as it weakens the power of the government and strengthens citizens and when people are stronger and have more rights we are more successful as a country. And when all citizens regardless of who they are have rights, society is better off than when just some have rights or some have more than others.
I am disappointed Harper and his cabinet will not speak at the event commerorating the signing, but I've attacked Harper enough of the Charter, so I don't know to elaborate on this further as my views in the past have been very clear and have not changed. Instead I will focus on what the Charter has meant.
Getting 7 of the 10 provinces with 50% + 1 of the population is no easy task and does making some compromises. It is why we have the notwithstanding clause and don't have property rights in the Charter. Some would argue depending on which side of the political spectrum you come from that the Charter shouldn't have been signed without either dropping the notwithstanding clause or including property rights, but I would argue that an imperfect charter is far superior to no Charter at all. More importantly using the notwithstanding clause has become so politically risky, that few politicians dare to use it. In the case of property rights, likewise, our property rights are just as strong as the United States who has it in their constitution and I would argue since it is so ingrained in the Canadian psyche, any politician who routinely violated property rights would be turfed.
However, other rights, especially equality and language rights weren't so popular amongst the public at all times and therefore it was essential they were put in the Charter so that minority rights couldn't be overriden when not popular. The Charter may have not been perfect, but when considering how difficult it is to achieve a consensus on something as major at this, it was about as good as it was plausible and that is something to be very proud of. Regardless of one's political stripe, it is something that benefits all Canadians as it weakens the power of the government and strengthens citizens and when people are stronger and have more rights we are more successful as a country. And when all citizens regardless of who they are have rights, society is better off than when just some have rights or some have more than others.
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 4:26 PM
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