#55 The Charter of 1812?

I know there is nothing quite like the history of the country that took place before the country was a country to get the Prime Minister’s juices flowing, particularly when there are outfits and cannons involved. But there was something that happened when the country was actually taking a step toward officialising its autonomy from the colonial power that actually changed the nature of our parliamentary democracy, and recently, too. That thing was the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, much of which took effect on (just translating for the PM) the 70th anniversary of the War of 1812. And the Queen, the Prime Minister’s favourite gal, was on hand in Ottawa to sign the darned thing to boot.

But no, the Charter anniversary slipped by without so much as a by-your-leave. Maybe that’s because the outgoing government has not actually mastered the art of writing legislation that will pass the test of the Charter when it is challenged before the courts. Oh, they will pretend that it is all about respecting the less favourable attitudes to the process of patriating the constitution in Québec, which was left out of the agreement at the last minute. Not particularly believable in light of so many other things they have done.

No, it was probably the invalidating of their laws that did the Charter in, or that they would like to have do the Charter in. From where I stand, the Charter seems to be the only thing standing between us all and unmitigated disaster on the federal front and even then….

Further reading here. 

 This Charter thing pales
next to the fun bayonets
and British soldiers