Vancouver Courier
for April 19, 1998

We Canadians live in a democracy, right? One where we have a constitution which sets out the way we govern ourselves, correct?

Guess again, suckers. We live in an elected absolute dictatorship where not only the principle of public participation in debates on important issues is utterly disregarded but so are the rights of MPs if they get in the way of the Prime Minister and the lickspittles who surround him.

No, this is not another shot at the prime minister's unassailable prerogatives which run into every nook and cranny of our lives but a look at how the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney cocked a snook at us all and created an "extra-constitutional" province called Nunavut. And how the Liberal and NDP oppositions were in on the fix.

Nunavut, the eastern part of the Northwest Territories, is about twice as big as Ontario and four times as large as Alberta with about 25,000 people scattered throughout the area. It has 18 kms of public highway.

Think of the last time you saw a B.C. Lions game at the Dome. There were 25,000 people there and the stadium was more than half empty. Now imagine those people scattered around an area almost three times as big of all of B.C. in pockets, tiny villages and two small towns. That is Nunavut.

And how was this notion sprung upon the Canadian people?

Let's hear what then Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Tom Siddon had to say in the Commons on June 4, 1993 as he introduced the bill.

"I remember the night here in Ottawa, I think it was December 15, 1991, when we had a long and fruitful discussion whether the federal government had the will to make this commitment which we are about to endorse today. I remember in a sense taking a risk but I did in fact call the Prime Minister and we decided that we could make that commitment ..."

That's it? Well, if there's more it's a secret. There's no evidence that the matter ever came before the House Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Northern Affairs.

Certainly the people weren't informed and asked for their views. There was no flashy bumph sent to all households as one has come to expect from governments announcing "good news". There were no coast to coast newspaper and television ads.

On June 4, late on a Friday just before a parliamentary break with an almost empty chamber, Tom Siddon, who had already seen the Nechako River ruined by Alcan during his watch as Fisheries Minister, set up Nunavut.

With what powers?

Virtually all the powers of a real province. There'll be a capital with about half a billion dollars in government buildings. There'll be a Legislature with a cabinet ruled by a government leader to be, presumably, called the Premier. Nunavut will have its own Supreme Court and, get this, a Court of Appeal. The civil servants required to service the 25,000 people in Nunavut will be about 1700. All of these costs will be borne by you and me the taxpayers of Canada South.

But what about the process here? Surely the opposition must have raised some questions?

Well, one tried. When the bill was called for debate on June 4, 1993 the government proposed that it all three readings be disposed of that day! Creating a province in all but name, without any discussion with affected parties such as the premiers (to create a proper new province requires the consent of 7 of the provinces) and giving no attention at all to the huge fiscal ramifications, was to be done without any real debate in one afternoon.

But that required unanimous consent. Deborah Gray, the lone Reform MP, wanting a proper debate, refused.

The government, with the concurrence of the other parties, brought in closure! Now closure is traditionally only invoked as a last measure after debate has become long, tedious, and repetitive. Tom Siddon's government invoked closure before a word of debate had been uttered!

But the government wasn't through just yet. Its House Leader then moved that debate be confined to one hour and 45 minutes. Since this only required consent of "recognized" parties (which the then one member Reform Party was not) Deborah Gray was silenced. So was the debate. So late Friday afternoon just before Parliament recessed, after a 1 3/4 hour so-called debate where the fix was clearly in, Nunavut was born.

Ours is not a parliament going wrong - it's a parliament already gone wrong. MPs have surrendered their power to the Prime Minister to such an extent that no matter what he does, there's not even an effective review. Not even by the appropriate Parliamentary Committee which is, of course, packed with government poodles.

Worse, there isn't a scintilla of evidence that it will ever be changed.

Where the hell is Thomas Paine when we need him most!