Harper says charter was an 'important step forward'

SANTIAGO, Chile — Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered a cautious assessment Monday for how the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has changed Canada, merely saying the country's adoption of the legal protections three decades ago marked an "interesting and important" step forward.

Harper made the comments on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the patriation of the Constitution — a historic development that introduced the charter to Canada.

The prime minister has been criticized by Liberals — including former prime minister Jean Chretien — for not doing enough this week to mark the occasion.

They complain that Harper does not want to draw attention to how it was the Liberals led by then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau (and his then-justice minister Chretien) who gave Canadians the legal protections offered by the charter.

As well, critics believe Harper has reservations about whether the charter led to judicial activism and stripped elected politicians of the power to adequately set the legal framework for Canadian society.

Harper was asked at a news conference for his personal views on how the charter has improved Canada, and whether it led to too much "judge-made" law.

"The charter was an important step forward, I think, in the development of Canadian rights policy," he replied.

He said that the policy, in fact, had its roots in the actions of a Conservative prime minister and "began in earnest with John Diefenbaker's Bill of Rights in 1960."

"This is an important step forward. I don't know that I want to get into constitutional laws. As with any set of decisions, there's always some that some people like more than others."

Harper did not directly address criticism about whether his government is doing enough to mark the occasion, saying the anniversary is "an interesting and important step."

"I would point out though that the charter remains inextricably linked to the patriation of the Constitution and divisions around that matter which, as you know, are still very real in some parts of the country."

Harper appears to have been referring to the fact that when the constitutional deal with provinces was struck by the Liberal government with the provinces in 1981, it lacked the support of Quebec, which complained it was left out of the last-minute negotiations.

Indeed, the deal was rejected by former Quebec premier Rene Levesque, who condemned the deal-making led by Chretien as "the night of the long knives."

Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Mark Kennedy