19 May 2004

Supreme Court approves undemocratic law

Most people would hold that one of the preconditions for a healthy, vibrant democracy is a high degree of freedom of speech. Thus it seems incredible that the Supreme Court of Canada would uphold a federal law severely restricting this during an election campaign. One wonders what is the purpose of the Charter guarantee of "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication" when the court sees fit to interpret this any way it damn well pleases. Although I am not a terribly partisan person, I am encouraged that Conservative leader Stephen Harper has promised to repeal the law which the Court upheld if his party comes to power next month. It is also encouraging that Canada's two national newspapers have come out against this draconian ruling.


Andrew Heard, Simon Fraser University

Canada's ruling junta


This unsettling development illustrates the danger of one party ruling uncontested for so long a time without serious opposition. Given that the party in power controls -- virtually monopolizes -- the legislative agenda and even appoints the justices of the very court called upon to interpret the law, it is small wonder that Canada is in danger of becoming a Mexican-style one-party-dominant semi-democracy at best.

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