Quebec’s intelligentsia are too often speaking out for a population that they do not seem to read well. They sell their fellow Quebecers short. Take the current media turmoil over Canada’s Senate. We have the foolish promises of New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair to abolish the Senate in defiance of our constitution. We have Quebec Premier Phillippe Couillard saying that there can be no change without a special status for Quebec. And they are both blowing smoke.
It raises the question of what might be accomplished if these so-called leaders came to the table, shut their mouths for a while and listened to all Canadians. It hardly matters if a person is from Chicoutimi or Chilliwack, they have a right to say how their country should be governed. And it might also help if Canada’s news media learned about the need for balance between reporting and commenting.
First of all, we need a forum for discussion. That is a critical question. Ontario once tried to use a lottery to pick participants in solving a question about a democratic method of voting. The result was a disaster as these people did not care. They accepted the seriousness of what they were told but they contributed little. When we really decide to do something about Canada’s future, we should pick people who give a damn.
The suggestion has been made a number of times that the simple solution is to elect people from each federal electoral district across Canada. It is just that we have the mechanisms in place to do that and there are times when you do not want to re-invent the wheel. A constitutional congress would be ideal. And we know what it will cost to bring these people to Ottawa. They could use the Senate chamber. It is not being used for anything important these days.
And before you suggest that Quebec voters might send some separatists to try to block things; they would soon find out that intransigence does not work in a constitutional congress. You are either willing to negotiate or you end up talking to yourself.
And, most important, nobody need agree with the congress in a subsequent referendum. The only thing is you either accept change or you are stuck with a horrendously bad and outdated constitution for the next 150 years.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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