4 - Wednesday, October 21, 1992 — North Shore News could use a Swiss-style republic | Canada HERE IS my proposal for what to do the day after the referendum vote, when the country’s economy, according to the prophecies of Mulroney, Clark and the Royal Bank, will be Lying in smouldering ruins as a result of No vic- tories in B.C., Alberta, Quebec and most of the reserves. The morning of Oct. 27, some- body should start a movement to adopt an entirely new federal model of government for Canada, based on the Swiss republican system. I believe that such a system would solve our power struggle problems ence and for all. Basically, Quebec would be recognized as a distinct society, and so would every other province and territory, along with all the reserves and contested land-claim areas. We are talking about the logical extension of distinct society clauses. With every region finally recognized as having evolved into a distinct society of its own, the ground would be broken for a new kind of useful Canadian commonwealth to emerge. Once everyone’s uniqueness is acknowledged, you can rearrange the big picture into a whole again, only it is a whole made up of legitimized parts. Then, and only then, do you put the entire dismantled puzzle of Canada back together, but ina new and truly egalitarian configu- ration — along the lines of what has been achieved in Switzerland. The.Swiss live in a confedera- tion of 23 states, called cantons, three of which are subdivided for administrative purposes into half-cantons, Each canton gets to send two representatives to the 46-member Council of States, which serves much of the purposes that a fed- eral Cabinet does here. ; The second house in the bicam- eral National Assembly is called the National Council, consisting of 200 members. The cantons enjoy a wonderful degree of autonomy. . in effect, they operate on the basis of sovereignty-association, surrendering only a few specific functions to the confederation — such as defence and banking, so that they have the advantages of a ° Bob Hunter ‘cae STRICTLY PERSONAL __ common currency and a great ar- my. Here in Canada we are having our first national referendum since 1942. | was one year old then. I'm almost an old man now. That was a long wait. By contrast — a contrast that makes our system look democrat- ically flaccid in the extreme — the Swiss have been holding referen- dums repeatediy. In fact, all major decisions on constitutional amendments and federal legis!ation must be submit- ted to a referendum, which can be initiated at any time by a petition of 56,000 votes. Switzerland is, of course, famous for its stability. Much of this can be attributed to its easily defended mountain terrain, but there is no getting away from the fact that there are four official ianguages, including one that is almost extinct and spoken by hardly anyone at all, and the Swiss make it work. They make it work through be- ing decentralized, not through a concentration of bureaucratic and political power at any one physical location. They follow the Kahlil Gibran admonition, ‘‘Let there be spaces in your togetherness."* At the end of the day, Swiss federal administrators go home to their cantons, where they live with only a small part of their time taken up fending off federal pen- cil-pushers. The Swiss system has many merits, but the one | personally find the most attractive is the way the Swiss go about selecting their president. He or she is voted into office by the members of the federal Coun- cil of States for a one-year term, and may not be re-elected. Alany given moment, as a result of the presidency having been defanged to the point where it can’t do serious damage, the average Swiss is unlikely to remember the name of the current president of Switzerland. In Canada, we have replaced monarchist dictatorship with a prime ministerial office that amounts to a form of oligarchical totalitarianism, the PM having nearly absolute power over members of his Cabinet, and they in turn through orders-in-counci} having the power to change laws and disregard the wishes of Parliament. The beauty of the Swiss system is that no one person gets to assume (for even a minute, let alone four agonizing long years, or worse, an interminable eight) the powers of an old-style king or quecn. In Canada, think of the stagger- ing waste of resources, time and - energy that can be attributed to the whims and fantasies of our various prime ministers, all of whom are sucked up to by so many people they come to believe in their own hype. The damage these megalomaniacs do, once unleash- ed, is incalculable. Trudeau and the NEP, Mulroney and the GST.- In the United States, at least, presidential power is counter- balanced to some degree by Con- gress. In Canada, as the prime ministership becomes more presidential, it has been slipping free of the restraining hand of Parliament, becoming more and more autocratic. A move to a Swiss-style system would give each of the provinces the basic things that Quebec has been asking for itself, and would deliver us all from the centralizing instincts of Ottawa’s mandarins. But that's the day after the ref- erendum. In the meantime, like so REFEREN many other Canadians, I’m run- ning out of room for waffting and arguing and debating and carping and pontification and theorizing and day-dreaming in technicolor. It’s coming down to a yes or no, isn't it? OCTOBER 26, 1992 Do you plan to vote YES because: © You are tired of the whole issue? @ Quebec and the Aboriginal People will finally be satisfied? @ It is the only way to “save” Canada? DO YOU KNOW: @ You will be voting for: QUEBEC 93 Seats B.C. 36 Seats 6,912,300 People 3,290,50G Peonle 74,326 People/Seat 91,403 Peopie/Seat A 23% MINIMUM House of Commons advantage to Quebec FOREVER! @ The “Separatists” in Quebec will never be satisfied, no matter what you vote. @ The Aboriginal People’s ultimate goal (presently before the courts), is to hold title to most of the land in B.C. and to rule it according to their “Inherent Rights”: © Quebec, Ontario, and the Prime Minister obviously do not care if B.C. votes to give away its land and voting equality. (Why??) PLEASE ASK YOURSELF: How will you explain to your chiidyen in the year 2002 (only 10 years away) that you voted to irrevocably give away THEIR Province of B.C.,- along with the right to rule it, to the Aboriginal People, aad at the sams time you gave away, in perpetuity, THEIR right to voting equality in - Ottawa. Will you be proud to tell them you voted away their inheritance - because you were “tired of the issue” or you just “didn't understand . the consequences”? PLEASE, DS NOT RUSH INTO A DECISION © VOU WILL REGRET FOREVER. ’ zen) ve OuR Rootrs Go DEEP. Not too long ago, VanCity’s EnviroFund was just a seed. Now it's bearing fruit. We're pleased to announce our first two grants of $35,000. One goes to the Environmental Youth Alliance, who will help preserve important sites like Beaver Creek in Stanley Park and create a model of environmental responsibility. The other goes to the Community Alternatives Society for their work helping local businesses to develop environmentally sound practices. These grants, along with the many others we will be offering in the days ahead, are part of VanCity's continuing commitment to the environ- ment. After all, this is not just our place of business. It’s our home. VanCityEnviroFund Sal For more information, call 877-7620.