We Americans often tend to think of Canadians as being just like us. In many ways, they are. They have political parties, (Stewart Kiff has just been elected by the Conservative Party of Canada’s National Constitution Committee), they welcome people from all walks of life, and they have the freedom to live their lives as they want to. If you ask me, this makes them a great country, and are just several reasons why I liken them to my country that is the United States of America. Of course, we have some differences too, but for the most part, Canada and the USA are very similar.
I used to think we were pretty similar and they can even get the best US credit card for Canadian citizenship and cross the border into America as much as they like so why wouldn’t I think they’re just like us? They may dress up their cops like Nelson Eddy, and they say “aboot” instead of “about” but basically, they’re like us. Right? Not really.
We came across a passage in the Canadian blog Law Is Cool that sheds an illuminating light on the differences between us:
“We do not have a right to property in Canada like we have a right to life, liberty, or security. And the Ontario legislature can’t just pass a law infringing on those three lightly like it can with property rights. The Charter forces the government to follow the principles of fundamental justice if it wants to imprison, kill, or endanger someone. The criminal process is extremely demanding on the government because of the Charter, and the Parliament can’t take these rights from us because it can’t change the Charter on its own. For these reasons, our rights guaranteed by the Charter are truly our rights. Everything else are just privileges granted by the government, including property and ownership. You can say that the government is not some evil organization to be feared and distrusted, and you will be absolutely right. Canada is a democracy but the democracy is nothing but the rule of a majority. The very reason we put some crucial rights away from Parliament’s reach is to protect them from the majority. History knows many examples when democratic majorities persecuted smaller groups of citizens.”
We rise above the dubious grammar of this quote because its importance lies in its substantive message. So think about it: in Canada, the civilized land north of our border, the legislature can just strip you of what you own by a simple majority vote.
You can check it out at http://lawiscool.com/category/property/