4& ~ Friday, April 19, 1991 - North Shore News

Constitutional talk is
a substitute for action

IT IS always a pleasure to discover a truly original

thought.

Especially when it endorses
one’s own opinion.

I'm a little late stumbting on
this particular thought. It was in
the January/February issue of
Saturday Night.

It is a tribute to Saturday
Night's durability, more
specifically its lasting use as a
hathroom magazine to which one
can repair for enlightenment many
months after its publication, and
during one of the few soulful,
reflective moments that modern
life allows us, that | read only last
week the article that wraps up this
thought.

The item is a book review by
I.M. Owen. The book under
scrutiny is Eugene Forsey’s A Life
on the Fringe, which coincidental-
ly | touched on in a column on
this page March 1.

“*QOne good reason for opposing
the movement for an elected
Senate,"’ writes Owen, ‘‘is the
opportunity the present system
gives prime ministers to bring into
Parliament people whose careers
have given them broad experiences
of public affairs but have kept
them outside or on the fringe of
active party politics. ...

**Anyone tempted to sneer at
the existing Senate should in
future be required to read Eugene
Forsey’s two chapters on his work
during his time there..."

Owen doesn’t go so far as to
say unequivocally leave the Senate
as it is.

But, after mulling the attrac-
tions of the West’s fond campaign
for a triple-E Senate — elected,

effective, and equal — for a year
or two ([’m a siow thinker), P?’'m
more inclined than ever to support
the brilliantly original argument:
Don’t touch it.

Obviously, this doesn’t sit well
with democratic theory. The

Trevor
Lautens

GARDEN OF BIASES

Senate is in fact a sty in the eye of
democracy.

Is that so bad?

Yes, one can cite dubious ap-
pointments (John Buchanan of
Nova Scotia is a current one) and
unedifying spectacles (bells and
kazoos in the Red Chamber to
frustrate passage of the goods and
services tax — which should have
lifted the Senate’s popularity).

But, as Owen writes, there have
been many good appointments
too. They have indeed made a
unique contribution. And some of
them couldn’t be elected dog-
catcher. Again: Is that so bad?

(And, by the way, I'd have
thought that if there were actually
an election for dogcatcher, the
candidates would have to possess
far greater political skills than
most aldermen or members of
Parliament can claim.)

Just in passing, I’ll confidently
predict that the Reform Party of
Canada, now that it’s moved into
Ontario, will have to quietly mute
its cry for a triple-E Senate —

unless the party is determined to
be unelectable there.

ft might attract a ragtag of the
terminally disgructled. But the
idea of Prince Edward Island hav-
ing as many senators as Ontario
doesn’t tly too well.

And there are sounre MPs —
Doug Lewis comes vividly to mind
— whose hair catches fire at the
thought of the Commons sharing
power with the Senate.

So what the Senate may need is
not reform but more intelligent
appointments to it by the prime
minister of the day, goaded by
more vigorous public opinion.
And more respect. And more at-
tention.

There’s a larger point to be
made.

Which is: Does any part of our
Constitution have to be changed?

Is it — and the country — real-
ly the failure that the intensely
gloomy and cynical opinion of the
elites make it out to be?

And, getting closer to the bone:
Would any imaginable revamping
of the Constitution really cure
Canada's underlying problems?

Which are, I suggest, economic
and attitudinal. Not political in
the usual sense.

We're using our bickering over
structural change in the forms of
Canada’s governance as a
substitute for action.

Action to make Canada more
competitive. Action to design,
make, build goods that the
world’s increasingly demanding
consumers want to buy.

Action to educate our best. Ac-
tion to shake off our herd men-
tality that relentlessly works
toward mediocrity for all.

And action to get out of the
ruts of barren constitutional,
jurisdictional and legalistic debate,
where this country has been spinn-
ing its wheels for 124 years.

Park Royal hosts emergency crews

EMERGENCY RESPONSE ex-
perts will be at Park Royal Shop-
ping Centre’s south mall from
April 22 to April 27 to highlight
Emergency Preparedness Week.

The West Vancouver Fire
Department, the West Vancouver
Police and Canadian-Oxy will of-
fer information and displays on
fire, police and hazardous materi-
als response procedures as well as

Boost up
your spirits
for spring!

tips on earthquake response
measures.

At noon and 3 p.m. on Satur-
day April 27, the fire department

ONLY

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Unwind with us in all the peace and luxury of our
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live up inthe Tyee Pub. Memories are unde of this,

Waterview noms ona first come basis

PHONE FREE: **

wil} demonstrate procedures used
when removing people from dam-
aged cars. The demonstration
takes place at the front of the
Park Royal Eaton’s store.

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