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Constitution should belong to Canadians

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has had ample opportunity to make the changes to the Supreme Court he may have wanted.

Dear Editor:

Re: Harper and the Supreme Court.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has had ample opportunity to make the changes to the Supreme Court he may have wanted.

He wrote the Blue Book, the policy manual for the Reform Party of Canada, and was a vocal advocate for reforming our justice system.

Over the years it has evolved into a legal system, where lawyers waste the courts time and taxpayers money arguing points of law.

The judges are appointed by the Prime Minister of the day, not elected, and they are accountable to absolutely nobody.

The courts have hijacked the justice system, and instead of enforcing the laws written by the people they have been preoccupied reinterpreting and rewriting them.

Harper’s preoccupation with the Supreme Court is easily justified, but his contempt for parliamentary procedures and the democratic process has become an even bigger concern for millions of Canadians.

When he cannot have his way he has arbitrarily closed the doors for business by proroguing Parliament for extended periods of time.

He has also managed to eliminate meaningful debate on the budget, by bundling it with other legislation and arrogantly using party discipline to ram it through Parliament.

It would be difficult to believe he feels any different about the Supreme Court of Canada.

The current justice system was created as an integral part of a 1982 federal statute called the Constitution Act of Canada that arbitrarily was adopted by a handful of politicians and shoved down our throats.

A justice system is rooted in a constitution, and a statute is not a constitution.

Instead of picking a fight with the Supreme Court, Harper should initiate the process of bringing resolution to this issue.

To insist we continue as a colony through the 21st century is about as outrageous as insisting our Indians and Inuits continue to be dependent on government handouts.

It’s time to sever our colonial ties with Britain and start building a sovereign democratic society where the  constitution belongs to the people, not the government.

Andy Thomsen

Summerland