Xref: utzoo can.politics:1970 can.francais:67
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Newsgroups: can.politics,can.francais
Subject: Notwithstanding clause -- truly a sad day for Canada
Message-ID: <2521@looking.UUCP>
Date: 19 Dec 88 18:50:41 GMT
References: <1988Dec13.133220.28851@lsuc.uucp> <4321@hcr.UUCP> <809@auvax.UUCP> <230@electro.UUCP>
Reply-To: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Distribution: can
Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd.
Lines: 21

The decision to use the famous notwithstanding clause to me marks one of
the worst events in Canadian political history.

I think most people don't like the fact that the clause is there, but I
had always held the hope that, like many other aspects of the law, it
would never be used -- that no province would dare to be the first to
use it to remove fundamental rights.

Today, this hope is dashed.  You may call this a 'slippery-slope' argument,
but I believe that this precedent will make it much easier for other
violations of the chater to be entrenched in law.

The sign law was stupid and the courts agreed.  You should be able to
have a sign in Japanese, Swahili or rot13 code if you want to.  Certainly
in one of Canada's official languages.

We should scrap Meech Lake.  A province that would do this over something
as trivial as the control of signs deserves no place in the constitution
of this country.  That's how strongly I feel about this.
-- 
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd.  --  Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473