From: dbowman@rainbow (Don A. Bowman)
Subject: Why I like the Charlottetown Accord
Organization: University of Waterloo
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 22:14:34 GMT

Why I like the Charlottetown Accord
-----------------------------------

It doesn't take much political consciousness to realise that Canada is in a
quandry. It can't have escaped your attention that on October 26th we must
vote on the future of our country. Much rhetoric is heard from both sides
of the issue, but lost in the rhetoric is the details. Here is what I like
about the Charlottetown Accord:

Canadians were consulted before negotiations started. A big criticism of
Meech Lake was that it was negotiated and presented before we knew what was
going on. This time we had commissions and talk lines. We had travelling
committees and write-ins. People told their governments what they wanted,
what they needed. The government listened, and coalesced it into the
Charlottetown Accord. I believe this provided our premiers with the
mandate to negotiate, and a basis to negotiate on.

I believe the Canada clause is going to prove beneficial to all Canadians.
The Canada clause is designed to interpret the Charter of Rights where it
is weak or ambiguous. For the most part, the charter is unambiguous. Many
groups are against this Accord because of this clause, but they have
misinterpreted its purpose. The Canada clause sets forth common
characteristics that Canadians hold dear. It commits us to democracy.  It
recognises Quebec as the unique entity that it is. It commits all
Canadians to racial and ethnic equality. It respects individual and
collective rights. It commits us to gender equality. I believe that these
basic Canadian values, in addition to our already well-designed Charter of
rights, will make Canada a better and more tolerant place for all Canadians.

There is another important section of the Accord which deals with our
Social and Economic Union. It commits our government to providing us with
a public health system which is comprehensive, universal, and accessible. 
This is fundamental to our Canadian culture.

The Union section also commits governments to provide adequate social
services to ensure that all people resident in Canada (citizens or not)
have access to food, housing, and other basic necessities. This ensures a
basic minimum that all Canadians will have.

Under this section our government is committed to high-quality primary and
secondary education. It provides for reasonable access to post-secondary
education. I believe that, since education is so fundamental to our
quality of life and maintenance of our standard of living, that it should
be firmly entrenched in our constitution. This the Charlottetown Accord
will do.

An extremely important part of this Accord is the environmental sections.
Never before has a constitutional proposal committed us to "protecting,
preserving and sustaining the integrity of the environment for present
and future generations." This ensures that environmental concerns may be
voiced on constitutional grounds, rather than on criminal or civil law
grounds. This in turn equalises standards across our country.

Also important in our economy is the free movement of trade and people.
The Charlottetown Accord provides for this. It is important to tear down
internal barriers and become more competitive globally. I don't believe we
should be competing against other Canadians.

The Accord commits governments to ensuring sustainable and equitable
development. This could be used to prevent the selling of natural
resources for immediate cash, and force governments to come up with
solutions to economic problems rather than band-aid fixes. A long standing
problem Albertan's have had is the National Energy Program which siphoned
billions of dollars out the province. Under this Accord, Alberta could
block this on constitutional grounds.

Even more importantly, nothing in this accord detracts from any rights
guaranteed by the Charter of Rights. You will not lose any rights as a
Canadian because of this proposal.

The Charlottetown Accord also recognises that there are some areas where
provincial governments and regional governments can more efficiently deal
with the needs and requirements of Canadians. The Accord commits the
Federal Government to provide funding to regional governments to alleviate
regional disparity. This will benefit all Canadians in the long run. By
helping traditionally poor provinces grow, we will grow ourselves. I'm sure
that no one would argue that reducing Newfoundland's dependency on fishery
products would be beneficial.

A long held concern of many Canadians has been the domination of the
country by the central provinces (Ontario and Quebec). These two provinces
have well over half the population, and comprises less than one quarter of
the land mass. The East and West have justifiably had some concerns as to
whether their interests were met in a central government dominated by
Ontario and Quebec. Charlottetown rectifies this by providing equal
representation in the Senate for all provinces, and by including in the
Canada Clause that all provinces are equal. This equal senate is important
for many reasons. I feel the most important is efficiency. The Senate will
be compelled, on constitutional grounds, to deal with all legislation
within 30 sitting days. Never again will we have ridiculous delaying
tactics making a mockery of our government.

Many central Canadians argue against an equal Senate because they feel it
is undemocratic. However, the function of the Senate is different than that
of the Commons. The Senate under this new system will exist to voice the
concerns of the smaller provinces, and to ensure that the greater economic
might of Ontario does not overrule the needs of all other provinces. It
provides a much needed equalisation between population and regions.

Also important, and often overlooked, is the fact that this new Senate
will not be a confidence chamber. This means that a government bill can be
defeated without requiring a general election. This in turn means that
senators can vote their minds on legislation without fear of endangering
the party. (I believe this is a major problem in the Commons -- MPs are
badgered into voting for something neither they nor their constituents
believe in by the party Whip.)

Another important issue is the changing demographics of our society. Some
provinces are growing quite quickly (BC), others are shrinking
(Saskatchewan). The Charlottetown Accord provides a method for
re-adjusting electoral boundaries. It also provides some guarantees so
that no province or region will ever have less than 95% of the
representation its population mandates.

Unemployment is a big problem in Canada, and has been for some time. It
has been recognised that re-training will become one of the greatest
requirements for our work force in the coming years. The Charlottetown
Accord provides for funding for this. Any province that feels it can do a
better job of training its workforce (and this is often the case) can
simply obtain the funding from the federal government to do so. This
"opt-out" clause can be invoked by any province, so long as it uses the
funding to achieve similar objectives.

In addition to the benefits of the Accord, one has to look at the
consequences of non-approval. There really is no united NO campaign. There
are some really unlikely coalitions that could not exist under any other
circumstances than hating something. If the Accord is not approved, this NO
campaign will splinter into hundreds of diametrically-opposed groups. There
will not be another agreement if this happens. Nobody has started to
question why the NO groups only provide arguments against this agreement.
They never provide what they would do instead.

A lot of political capital is made by the "NO" side as to the
unavailability of the deal. Read the summary. It's not going to change
drastically. Any major change would require the consent of all of the
premiers, the first peoples, the federal government, etc. You can rest
assured that there will be no surprises between the summary and the final
document.

It is extremely important that every Canadian vote in this plebescite. It
is of fundamental importance that you vote on the contents of the
Charlottetown Accord. You should not vote the way someone tells you to. You
should not vote because of something you heard. Ignore the rhetoric, rise
above the name calling. Don't vote "NO" because you like Preston Manning.
Don't vote "YES" to spite Jacques Parizeau. Vote your mind. Read the
Accord, check those items you like, check those items you do not. Balance
the two. What can you live with. What do you like. What do you dislike, but
would campaign to change. Remember, we all have to live with the
consequences of a vote.

Remember, a YES vote gives us a framework for future discussions,
revisions, and clarifications. A NO vote simply puts us back to the start,
looking for consensus in a strained environment.

--
Don Bowman                (519) 744-6154     dbowman@zeus.uwaterloo.ca