100 Things to Improve Canada #2

#2 - Constitutional Reform
Patrick Ross

The truth is, Canada is a country originating from not one, but two foundations.

The first stemmed from the 1867 British North America act, wherein Upper Canada (Ontario), Lower Canada (Quebec), New Brunswick and Nova Scotia established the country as a marriage between these four provinces. Over the following 130 years, that family would be expanded with the addition of eight provinces and three territories.

Post-Confederation Canada would prove preoccupied with various challenges: the conciliation between federal and provincial powers, the debate over the roles of English and French Canada, as well as various controversies over the place of Aboriginals within Canada.

For many Canadians, the foremost problem with Canada was that its constitution remained an act of British parliament. Pierre Trudeau seemingly fell into this category, and in 1982 he repatriated the Constitution, re-founding the country based on principles established by decades of constantly evolving Canadian values, originally legally enshrined by John Diefenbaker. Trudeau entrenched Diefenbaker’s Bill of Rights in the new Constitution.

Yet, Trudeau’s single-minded determination to patriate the Canadian constitution on his own terms led to an incomplete Constitutional family, as Quebec refused to sign onto the new constitution following the infamous “night of the long knives”. Also left out of the new constitution were Canada’s aboriginal peoples, who would manage to get self-government concessions out of the government, but yet in many ways would essentially remain wards of the state.

In short, the repatriated British North America Act 1982 not only failed to resolve the constitutional divides pre-dating the new constitution, but would also leave Quebec effectively constitutionally outside the country, yet locked within it by way of the 1867 agreement.

During the American civil war, president Abraham Lincoln intoned that “a house divided against itself cannot stand”. Yet, 25 years after this re-founding of the country, Canada remains not only a house often divided against itself, but a house built on an incomplete foundation.

This house cannot stand indefinitely.

While some Canadians have advocated solutions that essentially require tearing the Canadian house to the ground the rebuilding it, it remains a matter of debate whether or not this is necessary. Reform doesn’t demand a radical reconstruction of the country, only a more amicable alteration to current affairs.

A reformed constitution essentially requires the solution of Canada’s three major historical dilemmas: the place of Aboriginal Canadians, the relationship between Ontario and Quebec and the nature of Canada’s lingual policies.

Canada would best resolve the difficulties posed by the current status of Aboriginals by reorganizing their place within confederation. Canada’s six treaty areas should be reorganized into defacto provinces, each with the power to set laws within reserves, power of taxation over its residents, and powers to set policy over areas of provincial jurisdiction.

The department of Indian affairs would need to be abolished, and its funding could instead be directed toward transfer payments.

Most importantly, Canada’s aboriginals would be able to embrace Canadian citizenship and a place in confederation in dignity, with their demands for self-government essentially met.

Reconciling Quebec’s demands could prove more difficult. Quebec has historically had numerous demands, most of them driven by concerns over political and cultural autonomy. Yet, Quebec is also a rapidly diversifying province, one of the most popular destinations for incoming immigrants. As such, the presumption of francophone and (post-1960) Quebecois cultural dominance can be called into question. Even if Quebec isn’t assimilating into anglophone Canada, many immigrant groups in Quebec aren’t assimilating into francophone Quebec culture.

Brian Mulroney came closest to satisfying Quebec’s demands with the “distinct society” clause of his failed Meech Lake accord. This idea, however, was categorically rejected by the rest of Canada.

Yet, Quebec clearly is a distinct society. This being said, so is Atlantic Canada. So is Ontario, the prairie provinces, British Columbia and the Territories. Any recognition of Quebec’s distinctiveness must recognize the distinctiveness of these regions as well. Furthermore, any cultural powers ceded to Quebec would have to be ceded to Canada’s other regions, and any political powers ceded would also have to be ceded to the other provinces.

Another facet of the Quebec difficulty is Canada’s lingual nature. Since 1982, official bilingualism has been entrenched in the Constitution. Yet, Canada has many more lingual groups other than simply English and French. Replacing official bilingualism with official multilingualism, wherein federal government services could be provided in any language appropriate to the region.

Most importantly, any renegotiation of the Canadian constitution must be fair to all Canadians. Not only the needs of present Canadians must be balanced against the traditions of the past, but the interests and needs of future Canadians – both naturally-born and via immigration – must be addressed as well.

Opening the Canadian constitution is politically risky, and negotiating a new agreement would be intensely difficult, but it will be necessary if we as Canadians are to build a better Canada.

#1 - Teaching History by Kevin Millard

100 Things to Improve Canada #1

By its very nature, a democracy is never truly complete.

As a political union of its entire citizenry, a democracy, by nature, has to grow and expand to reflect the interests, beliefs and needs of as many of its citizens as possible. Given that the interests, beliefs and needs of its citizens change and diversity over time, changes within a democracy are inevitable.

Canada, as one of the world's oldest functioning democracies, is no exception to this demand. As one of the most rapidly diversifying societies, Canada is proving to be an unexpected proving ground for the underlying principles of democracy.

As comic book readers the world over know, a civil war consumed the Marvel Universe throughout 2006 and 2007. At the centre of the conflict was a Superhuman Registration Act passed through the United States congress following a massive tragedy that destroyed an entire town in Conneticiut.

In the story's concluding chapter, Civil War #7, the Registration Act's architect, Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) reveals to one of the characters that the Act, and many of the things that were done in support of that act were part of a "100 things to do for a better America" list compiled by himself and fellow super-geniuses Reed Richards (aka Mr Fantastic) and Henry Pym (aka The Giant, Ant Man, Yellow Jacket, and a plethora of other superhero identities).

The list compiled by Stark, Richards and Pym ultimately led to disaster. This underscores an important caveat about conceptualizing utopian visions: these visions can become monsters, and lead to dangerous excess. Historical examples of utopian visions carried out strictly by elites bears this out in constant examples: the Russian, French Revolution, and Iranian revolutions come immediately to mind.

This isn't to say that visionary dreams are inherently dangerous. Any program of democratic self-improvement, by necessity, must begin with the people with whom the power and sovereignty of a democracy ultimately lie: in the people themselves.

In a new feature, here at the Nexus and elsewhere, ordinary people are going to chip in with their ideas on how to make Canada a better place to live, and a better citizen in the global community. This is the combined bold vision of 100 separate bloggers, of varying political stripes.

Our first participant, Politics 101's Kevin Millard, reminds us that the best way to embark on improving Canada for the future is to task ourselves with remembering its past.


#1 - Teaching History
Kevin Millard

One of the best things we can do to improve Canada is to teach more Canadian history in our schools. Doing this will improve our knowledge of who we are, where we've been, and where we're going. It would also correct common misconceptions about ourselves and instill in Canadians a sense of pride about their country.

At present in Ontario only one credit in history is required to obtain your O.S.S.D. Sure there are history classes available in grades 9 through 12. But, let's face it history is not going to be on a teenagers list of top subjects. That's why more than one year needs to be compulsory.

76% of Canadians are embarrassed by their lack of knowledge about Canadian history. This is something we should be alarmed about. It is the reason, when asked, why we tend to identify ourselves as "not American". Yet, I think most of us know more American history than our own.

This lack of knowledge keeps our accomplishments as a country (especially our military ones) in the dark. It allows special interest groups and political parties to tell us who we are and what we think. One instance of this is the common misconception that we are a neutral country, which is historically inaccurate. Canada has always picked a side and fought for it.

In WWI Canada 's military went from being a rag tag bunch of farmers to becoming one of the most respected, most effective and most feared forces on the western front. This is a reputation that has followed us--with good reason-- into every conflict we have been in. What we have not been is neutral.

We tend to think of ourselves as beer drinking hockey fans and nothing more. While we are those things, we are also so much more. We are leaders in the Aerospace industry, insulin was invented here, standard time was invented in Canada, and no Canadian army unit has ever retreated in the face of the enemy. These are just a
few accomplishments that are worth mentioning. There are many, many more.

Our lack of knowledge about our history greatly impedes our ability to to make informed decisions about who we are, and were we're going. This needs to change, so we can start to be proud of being "Canadian".

Thank you for your time,
Kevin Millard