From: clamen+@CS.CMU.EDU (Stewart Clamen)
Subject: GAZETTE EDITORIAL: AN INTELLECTUAL LUXURY
Originator: clamen@BYRON.SP.CS.CMU.EDU
Reply-To: clamen+@CS.CMU.EDU
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 21:20:54 GMT


			AN INTELLECTUAL LUXURY
	       Pierre Trudeau skirts too many realities

			 A Gazette Editorial
			   Sat, Oct 3, 1992
		   [redistributed with permission]

   Pierre Trudeau was quintessentially himself when he spoke to Cite'
Libre on Thursday Night.  He is unmatched as a speaker, unrivalled for
his ability to summon Canadians to meet high ideals, daunting for his
logic.

   And ruthless in his distortion of facts to fit his call for a No
vote in the Oct. 26 referendum.

   Nowhere was his distortion more apparent, or more dismaying, than
in his brutal attack on the proposed Canada clause.  A concerned
listener could easily have come away concluding that if the
Charlottetown accord took effect, the Charter of Rights would be
eviscerated.

   That is absolutely not true.

   The Charter of Rights stands and will stand intact, a bulwark for
all Canadians and a towering legacy of the many who Thursday described
himself as a former law professor.

   The Canada clause is just an interpretive clause, telling judges to
bear certain characteristics of Canada in mind when they rule on cases
involving the Charter or other parts of the constitution.  These
characteristics include Quebec's distinct society and Canadians'
commitment to the vitality and development of minority-language
communities, among other things.

   To hear Mr. Trudeau tell it, this clause would create classes of
Canadians.  But there is nothing wrong with interpretive clauses.  Mr.
Trudeau himself put one right in the body of the Charter,
instructing the courts to take Canadians' multicultural heritage into
account when they ruled.  That did not create first and second classes
of citizens; nor would the Canada clause.  It simply reminds courts
of Canadian realities.

   Mr. Trudeau made some superb points (it is hard to recall, for
example, a more devastating attack on the claim that provinces need
more powers).  But the heart of his critique of the Charlottetown
accord is, as always, his adamant refusal to countenance anything
remotely resembling collective rights, which he believes can only
erode individual rights.

   Individual rights are part of the bedrock of western society, the
foundation of freedom.  But they stand along most effectively in a
unitary, homogeneous state without significant minorities.  As soon as
a country expands to include more than one collectivity, the rights of
the various groups also have to be considered, and in particular the
rights of minority collectivities have a legitimate claim to
protection.  Mr. Trudeau's own Charter affirms the rights of several
collectivities, notably native people and English- and French-
speaking minorities.  That is not a flaw, it is something Canadians
can be proud of.

   Finally, there is the former prime minister's claim that a No vote
would bring constitutional peace.  In evoking that seductive prospect,
he simply ignored the virtual certainty that if the Charlottetown
accord is rejected, separatists will cry triumph.  This proves, they
will say --- and who will be able to gainsay them --- that Canada can
never change to accommodate Quebec.  The only solution, they will cry
with redoubled vigor, is independence.  And many people, weary and
discouraged, will believe them.

   The politicians and bankers who warn that a No vote will carry a
price are not, as Mr. Trudeau suggests, blackmailers --- they are more
like Cassandra, doomed to make true predictions which their hearers
refuse to believe.

   Questioners at the Cite' Libre evening raised some uncomfortable
points with Mr. Trudeau.  Why, one asked, does he speak out only after
a deal is struck, when it is too late to contribute constructively
toward it and the only effect can be destructive?  Another, as
staunchly federalist as Mr. Trudeau himself, dismissed his argument
as an intellectual luxury.

   Harsh though the words were, they rang true.





This editorial was transcribed by...

--
Stewart M. Clamen			Internet:    clamen@cs.cmu.edu
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