The prime minister’s lack of enthusiasm for the 30th anniversary of patriating the Constitution is quite understandable.
There is nothing to celebrate.
On April 17, 1982, only two things happened:
The Canadian government became the administrator of the British North America Act (BNA), and by virtue of an act of Parliament, renamed it the Constitution Act of Canada.
The government also adopted and included in the act a section referred to as the Canadian Charter of Rights.
The people of Canada were never allowed a binding national referendum to decide if they wanted to accept the BNA as their Constitution as is, or if they wanted to write their own.
In other words, the government essentially hijacked the Constitution, and we still have colonial-style governments.
To make matters worse, our politicians have since turned their backs on the Constitution while the Courts have become busy re-writing it.
In democratic societies, the Constitution and the laws of the land are written by the people and enforced by the courts.
Until such time we become a democratic society where the Constitution belongs to the people — all I can muster is a whoopee ding.
Andy Thomsen
Summerland