From: sjm@bcrki65.bnr.ca (Stuart MacMartin)
Subject: Re: October 26th Referendum
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa, Canada
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 12:48:12 GMT

I've heard a lot of strange reasons to vote "no".  To list a few
(paraphrased, not direct quotes, and not all from here):

> We can't trust politicians, and especially not these ones.
> They should not be allowed to touch the constitution.

  And just how is the current constitution to be changed, then?

> They should be working on the economy, and jobs.

  Like it or not, the constitution is linked to the economy.
  Foreign investment likes a stable country, and until our
  country is stable, foreign investment is harder to get and keep.
  This affects the dollar and interest rates.  (Mind you, the "Yes" side
  rhetoric is probably inflaming the problem the last few weeks.)
  The constitution is one of the most important things for our
  politicians to work on if we want economic stability.

> This constitutional wrangling has been going on too long.  Let's give
  them a clear message by voting "No".

  ...which will only force constitutional wrangling and possible political
  breakup wrangling to continue.
  

> We mustn't give up our representation by population.

  We never had it.  A party can control the country without anywhere near
  a majority.  If I vote but the person I vote for does not get elected,
  I have *no* representation.  Furthermore, a party can control the country
  when it has been given a sound defeat in certain large regions of the
  country.  How else could Trudeau have ignored the west?  The west is
  a political non-entity.  This agreement does nothing to fix the first
  problem, but at least ensures that major regions of the country cannot
  be totally mistreated or ignored.  This is a major improvement over today.

> Quebec must not be given any guarantees.

  On the contrary, Quebec must be given guarantees.  It has seen its 
  ability to treat itself as a distinct society gradually eroded over the
  years.  Quebec was part of confederation as one of two equal cultures.
  Now it is in the situation that federal policy can influence how it
  handles its internal affairs.  Like it or not, this whole thing is
  primarily about whether or not we want Quebec to be part of Canada.
  Either we give Quebec some guarantees that it can't become a political
  non-entity, or we agree that Quebec should leave.  Anyone who has been in
  Quebec knows that it is different from the rest of the country, and much
  more so than B.C. is different from Ontario.  To say that we don't want a
  country where Quebec is guaranteed a strong federal presence is to say
  that we don't want a country with Quebec.  The view of what confederation
  is is different in Quebec than the rest of the country.  We either make
  an effort to reconcile the (historical but perpetuated) conflicting views,
  or we give Quebec an ultimatum:  accept that you are the same as any other
  province, or leave.  Given this ultimatum, Quebec is almost sure to leave.

You might note that I think regional interests are important.  The reason
I think this is that we do indeed have different regions.  B.C. has mountains
dividing it from the rest of us, and this affects its trade.  The west has
oil and wheat.  Ontario is... Ontario.  Quebec is... Quebec.  N.B. is...
well, it's kinda split.  Maritimes have fishing.  The regional concerns are
very important, and it is important that these can't be squashed by the
majority in the rest of the country.  This is exactly the same argument as
for other minorities.  Minorities should have rights, and these should be
protected.  (Of course, exactly what rights they should have is disputed).

Obviously this constitution has flaws.  It is a compromise.  That means that
whatever it is you want, you won't get it all.  But I have yet to be convinced
that this deal is actually worse than what we have now.  In some ways, it is
better.  And although the general form of government is very important, I don't
think the exact form of the government really matters all that much.  I don't
get much say in it anyway, unless I want to run for parliament.

Stuart
--
: Stuart MacMartin                                    email: sjm@bnr.ca      :
: Bell-Northern Research                              phone: (613) 763-5625  :
: PO Box 3511, Stn C, Ottawa, K1Y-4H7, CANADA    Standard disclaimers apply. :
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