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VOTERS ARE IRRELEVANT TO PRIME MINISTER CHRÉTIEN

The debacle we witnessed in Parliament during September over same-sex marriage and Bill C-250 has shown, without doubt, that Canadian voters are irrelevant in determining the policies of this country under Prime Minister Chrétien.

The Courts

The Liberal party, under Mr. Chrétien, is of the view that MPs are compelled to submit to the will of the courts, even if the latter rewrite laws contrary to the intention of Parliament. The Charter, however, uses vague and pliable language, which can be subject to a number of perfectly reasonable interpretations. Parliament can reasonably disagree with the courts' interpretation of these words by applying s.33 (the notwithstanding clause) of the Charter. By doing so, Parliament would not be motivated by a desire to undermine the Charter, but would merely be disagreeing with the courts' interpretation of the words of the Charter. After all, judges are not infallible.

The federal government, however, has been reluctant to apply the notwithstanding clause, even when the courts "read in" or "read out" words in legislation, i.e. re-write the legislation. The courts maintain they are obliged to make these rulings under s.52 of the Charter, which provides that all Canada's laws are subject to the "constitution" of Canada. However, the constitution of Canada includes not just the Charter of Rights, passed in 1982, but also the British North America (BNA) Act passed in 1867. S.18 of the BNA Act provides that Parliament has the same power as that held by the British Parliament at that time, i.e. to make and implement laws for the benefit of the people. This includes the duty to debate, determine and vote on all major questions of national policy. It was never intended that the Charter of Rights be used in such a way that the courts would determine public policy or become the top of the hierarchy of command in Canada. In fact, the BNA Act was silent on the powers to be exercised by judges. The wide scope of judges' jurisdiction today is power that the judges gave to themselves, case by case. It was not provided in the Constitution, in either the Charter of Rights or the BNA Act.

Parliament

The Liberal government, headed by Prime Minister Chrétien and assisted by Minister of Justice, Martin Cauchon, has no qualms about pushing its own agenda through Parliament, whether the issue is same-sex marriage or decriminalizing marijuana, this government does so with complete indifference to the views of the Canadian public.

Chrétien and Cauchon have nothing to lose by ignoring the Canadian public, since both will shortly be leaving the federal scene. Mr. Cauchon is expected to be appointed to the bench by Mr. Chrétien in return for his loyalty and dedicated services. Mr. Chrétien will be out of the loop, but living comfortably nearby in Ottawa, relishing his legacy and memories of absolute power.

It was during his term of office as Prime Minister, that Mr. Chrétien gathered all the reins of power into the Prime Minister's office. He made all the appointments to the federal courts, to the heads of all government departments and agencies, such as Canada Post, the CN Railway, the RCMP and to all the federal commissions. The Liberal caucus was putty in Mr. Chrétien's hands by way of either overt threats or promises of special favours. During his term in office, Mr. Chrétien became the most powerful prime minister in Canadian history. This tremendous power rendered him completely indifferent to Canadian public opinion. As a result, the vast army of Canadian voters has been stripped of all ability to participate in the drafting of public policy. Thousands upon thousands of letters, faxes and e-mails against Bill C-250 and same-sex marriage have been ignored, and indeed treated with disdain. Never before in Canadian history, have any proposals before Parliament received such negative criticism from citizens as have Bill C-250 and same-sex marriage - yet the Liberal government ignored these objections.

Huge rallies in defence of traditional marriage held throughout the summer in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto, and thousands of Canadians rallying in front of over 200 MPs' constituency offices on "Sanctity of Marriage Sunday" on September 7 were ignored.

Canadians have been cornered by a dictatorship operated by both an arrogant prime minister and self-serving, elitist judges. Will Canadians ever have control of their own country?

Mr. Martin, the new Liberal leader, can continue to operate with Mr. Chrétien's methods, or he can change, by opening judicial appointments to Parliamentary review, and by relaxing control over the party caucus and the committees of the House of Commons in order to allow genuine independence, freedom of conscience, and public input into national policy.

But will he do so? We'll soon find out. If Mr. Martin does not change the odious system of governing, we must exercise our disdain by voting him out of power. If we do not, then we deserve what we get.

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