Freedom Flyer 19

the official newsletter of the
Freedom Party of Ontario

December 1991

Frampton addresses federal committee...

PROTECTION OF RIGHTS KEY
TO CONSTITUTIONAL SUCCESS, SAYS FRAMPTON

TORONTO (April 23, 1991) - Fp Regional Vice-President William Frampton addressed the federal government's Special Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons on the Process for Amending the Constitution of Canada.

The committee, jointly chaired by the Honourable Gerald Beaudoin (Senator) and Jim Edwards (MP), intensely challenged Frampton's views for nearly an hour while the entire proceedings were broadcast coast-to-coast via Canada's parliamentary channel.

WILLIAM FRAMPTON

"Unless our constitution is so designed as to protect individual rights as opposed to group rights, no number of amendments, referendums, or any other democratic means can possibly address the gross injustices that will inevitably result," argued Frampton to a committee that was openly hostile to his point of view. "The people of Canada will never be assured of security of their freedom and inalienable rights, unless the most overriding feature of our constitution is a guarantee of fundamental freedoms."

QUEBEC QUESTION

"I do not see how you could sell this idea to Quebec without giving it some type of protection," responded MP Jean-Pierre Blackburn. "Quebec needs protection. Quebec is going to have to get this protection. Otherwise, we will not be able to move ahead."

Blackburn's comments provide an excellent summary to much of the exchange between Frampton and the committee MPs from Quebec, exchanges which included issues like the "distinctiveness of Quebec," "French culture," etc. Though much of the conversation focussed on Quebec issues, there still seemed to be plenty of time to discuss issues of a more fundamental nature.

Senator Gigantes went on to challenge Frampton on the issue of socialized health care: "In protecting the life of an individual, would you say the government should protect that life against disease?"

Responded Frampton: "If you mean should the government set up a monopoly system of health insurance and compel individuals against their free will to 'buy' that health insurance from that monopoly, then the answer is no."

SOCIAL HARMONY

"Your whole presentation is based upon a philosophy that the individual is primary," challenged MP Lynn Hunter, (a somewhat inaccurate assessment of Frampton's position, which is actually based upon the social primacy of individual rights.) "I think it fails to recognize that the individual is also part of a community. The role of government is to organize us politically so that we can live harmoniously, and our Constitution should reflect that."

In response, Frampton offered an alternative definition of "harmonious" to committee members. "Harmonious communities can only be based upon respect for individual rights, Whenever you get into a situation where individual rights are not respected or are violated, you have disharmony and conflict.

SOCIAL DISHARMONY

GET THE DETAILS!
Read the full transcript
of Frampton's address
on the process
for amending the
Constitution of Canada.

"In Quebec, there is conflict between the majority who want laws to 'protect' the French language and the minority who want to use a different language. You have disharmony in Ontario between those who want all the stores closed on Sundays and those who see that this would have severe personal consequences for them."

Frampton went on to describe the inherent inequity and unfairness of high taxes, special status for Quebec, and a host of other predictable symptoms of any social system that fails to protect individual rights.

Frampton's principled defense of individual rights eventually reduced the mood of committee members to one of agitated tolerance: "All I can do," said Senator Gigantes to Frampton, "is quote Voltaire at you and say that though I abhor your opinions, I will defend to the death your right to hold them."

The tragic contradiction in Gigantes' statement lay in the fact that it is only through the protection of individual rights (to which Gigantes raised many objections) that one could possibly have any "right" to hold unpopular opinions.

FOR POLITICIANS, NOT FOR PEOPLE

If opinions expressed by committee members of the Special Joint Committee are any indication, it seems that Canada's constitutional problems are just beginning. The exchange between Frampton and the committee members offers tragic proof that those who are currently shaping the future of this country are more interested in preserving the power of politicians than in protecting and preserving the individual rights of citizens.

Highlights from Fp's Address to the Committee:: "As things stand now, our Constitutional guarantee of rights and freedoms is meaningless and our fundamental freedoms are not fundamental. Both are victims of the notwithstanding clause and the so-called reasonable limits that have been used to prevent oppressive laws from being thrown out in our courts. Quebec's language laws and Ontario Sunday closing laws are just two examples."
"An amending formula that produces back-room deals that cannot withstand the light of day must be scrapped, and the sooner the better."
"I would much rather see changes (to the Constitution) submitted through an open process whereby everyone understands how it works, what is required for approval and what is sufficient to defeat an amendment, rather than the process we have now where even the experts do not understand it."
"In a federal state, all the states or provinces must be considered fundamentally equal."
"Distinctiveness is not something that applies to the government of Quebec. It is something that is found in the people who live there."
"We would give the people of Canada the final verdict on constitutional change."
Among the committee's recommendations:
a two-year maximum Constitutional ratification period;
provincial proprietary rights remain protected by unanimity rule;
the establishment of federal discretionary powers "to hold a consultative referendum on a constitutional proposal," with a required majority vote both nationally and in each of the four regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the West):
the creation of a special task force "to address issues of concern to aboriginal peoples";
the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.; "An amending formula that produces back-room deals that cannot withstand the light of day must be scrapped, and the sooner the better."
"I would much rather see changes (to the Constitution) submitted through an open process whereby everyone understands how it works, what is required for approval and what is sufficient to defeat an amendment, rather than the process we have now where even the experts do not understand it."
"In a federal state, all the states or provinces must be considered fundamentally equal."
"Distinctiveness is not something that applies to the government of Quebec. It is something that is found in the people who live there."
"We would give the people of Canada the final verdict on constitutional change."
Among the committee's recommendations:
a two-year maximum Constitutional ratification period;
provincial proprietary rights remain protected by unanimity rule;
the establishment of federal discretionary powers "to hold a consultative referendum on a constitutional proposal," with a required majority vote both nationally and in each of the four regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the West):
the creation of a special task force "to address issues of concern to aboriginal peoples";
the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.; "I would much rather see changes (to the Constitution) submitted through an open process whereby everyone understands how it works, what is required for approval and what is sufficient to defeat an amendment, rather than the process we have now where even the experts do not understand it."
"In a federal state, all the states or provinces must be considered fundamentally equal."
"Distinctiveness is not something that applies to the government of Quebec. It is something that is found in the people who live there."
"We would give the people of Canada the final verdict on constitutional change."
Among the committee's recommendations:
a two-year maximum Constitutional ratification period;
provincial proprietary rights remain protected by unanimity rule;
the establishment of federal discretionary powers "to hold a consultative referendum on a constitutional proposal," with a required majority vote both nationally and in each of the four regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the West):
the creation of a special task force "to address issues of concern to aboriginal peoples";
the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.; "In a federal state, all the states or provinces must be considered fundamentally equal."
"Distinctiveness is not something that applies to the government of Quebec. It is something that is found in the people who live there."
"We would give the people of Canada the final verdict on constitutional change."
Among the committee's recommendations:
a two-year maximum Constitutional ratification period;
provincial proprietary rights remain protected by unanimity rule;
the establishment of federal discretionary powers "to hold a consultative referendum on a constitutional proposal," with a required majority vote both nationally and in each of the four regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the West):
the creation of a special task force "to address issues of concern to aboriginal peoples";
the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.; "Distinctiveness is not something that applies to the government of Quebec. It is something that is found in the people who live there."
"We would give the people of Canada the final verdict on constitutional change."
Among the committee's recommendations:
a two-year maximum Constitutional ratification period;
provincial proprietary rights remain protected by unanimity rule;
the establishment of federal discretionary powers "to hold a consultative referendum on a constitutional proposal," with a required majority vote both nationally and in each of the four regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the West):
the creation of a special task force "to address issues of concern to aboriginal peoples";
the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.; "We would give the people of Canada the final verdict on constitutional change."
Among the committee's recommendations:
a two-year maximum Constitutional ratification period;
provincial proprietary rights remain protected by unanimity rule;
the establishment of federal discretionary powers "to hold a consultative referendum on a constitutional proposal," with a required majority vote both nationally and in each of the four regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the West):
the creation of a special task force "to address issues of concern to aboriginal peoples";
the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.
Among the committee's recommendations:: a two-year maximum Constitutional ratification period;
provincial proprietary rights remain protected by unanimity rule;
the establishment of federal discretionary powers "to hold a consultative referendum on a constitutional proposal," with a required majority vote both nationally and in each of the four regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the West):
the creation of a special task force "to address issues of concern to aboriginal peoples";
the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.; provincial proprietary rights remain protected by unanimity rule;
the establishment of federal discretionary powers "to hold a consultative referendum on a constitutional proposal," with a required majority vote both nationally and in each of the four regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the West):
the creation of a special task force "to address issues of concern to aboriginal peoples";
the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.; the establishment of federal discretionary powers "to hold a consultative referendum on a constitutional proposal," with a required majority vote both nationally and in each of the four regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the West):
the creation of a special task force "to address issues of concern to aboriginal peoples";
the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.; the creation of a special task force "to address issues of concern to aboriginal peoples";
the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.; the creation of other task forces, as "deemed appropriate";
participation in joint hearings with other committees.; participation in joint hearings with other committees.