Disdain for the Rule of Law

SCSC = Stop Complaining – Start Contributing: Disdain for the rule of law

For many years, I heard my late lawyer brother state, repeatedly, that the one thing that distinguishes civilized democratic countries from banana republics and Middle Eastern dictatorships was the rule of law. He had a Ph D from the University of London, England.
I never appreciated the profoundness of that statement then. I do now. For, what is the use of a democratic voting system if it can be circumvented by manipulating the law? The lesson came home this week as I followed the story of Stephen Harper and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Headstrong Harper tried, in the words of the Toronto Star, in an arrogant bid to throw the Constitution to the wind, to name Justice Marc Nadon to a seat on the country’s highest court that he wasn’t eligible to occupy. Fortunately for us Canadians, the composition of the highest court in the land is jealously protected by the constitution, from the whims of any Canadian prime minister. How else will we guarantee its independence from the opportunism of parasitic politicians?

Despite my unreserved applause for the decision of the Supreme Court, I felt disappointed that, on an obvious matter of law, there was one dissenting voice versus the other six – until I learned later that it came from none other than Harper’s appointee. Imagine if Harper had two or three of those!

In 2015, let us ask Harper about his 2011 pledge to rule with transparency and integrity. In 2015: LET US SEND HARPER A CLEAR MESSAGE!

Qais Ghanem, Ottawa