Ask anybody
about Pierre Trudeau’s major contributions to Canadian politics, and you will
find many who will point to the repatriation of the constitution, and the
enshrinement in our new constitution of our now world-famous Charter
of Rights & Freedoms.
That
Charter has resounded throughout the world, and is used as a template wherever
people gather to draft democratic reforms for other countries.
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| Like father, like son? |
It defined
in unmistakable terms the red line where the rights of the Canadian state ended
and the rights and freedoms of Canadians began. And it has been even more
significant in that it has changed our culture to one where we now think in
terms of the rights and freedoms of the individual as a logical starting point
in assessing any proposed law or governmental action.
Pierre
Trudeau had a fierce love of democracy, and a distrust of extremes. He saw the
Charter as a way to build a country that was more democratic than it had been.
Should
Justin Trudeau become leader of the Liberal Party, it is probable that he will
be either the next prime minister or the deputy prime minister in a government
replacing the Stephen Harper new Tories.
One of the
things he will have to think seriously about is what kind of a legacy he could
leave when he finally steps down from active politics. He is aware of the
massive contribution his father made to building and extending our democracy.
He must
want to do something equally significant.
The one
legacy he could leave would be to remedy our democratic deficit by insisting on
legislation requiring our archaic and undemocratic first past the post system
of electing our MPs being changed to a modified proportional
representation system (MPR).
Having a
MPR system of electing our MPs would at a stroke move Canada from the
democratic backwaters we are in, to the forefront of democracies. We would take
our place amongst those advanced nations that now have similar electoral
systems, which
make sure every vote counts, that every portion of the country has
representation in parliament, and that every major political party has a
fair voice in our nation’s affairs.
That one change alone will guarantee Justin Trudeau a legacy equal to that of his father’s, even if he does no more.
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