Magna Carta Canada: some preliminary thoughts

Did you know that the Magna Carta is coming to Canada in 2015?  Yes, a non-profit organization known as Magna Carta Canada (not Canada’s Ministry of Heritage) is funding a tour (by donation!) of the Great Charter across Canada: Ottawa’s Parliament buildings, Toronto’s Fort York, Winnipeg’s Museum of Human Rights and Alberta’s Legislature in Edmonton. But not British Columbia.

The Magna Carta, signed June 15, 1215, when King John was forced by his English Barons, espouses clear notions of constitutional liberty and the idea that “no one is above the law”. The Great Charter is at the root of the origins of the English constitution, the Canadian constitution, 51 other member states of the Commonwealth, and the U.S. Constitution.  We are not talking about John Lennon’s tooth here. And it is a considerable failure of the “Harper government” that the Great Charter does not travel across more of Canada on the occasion of its 8^th centenary anniversary.

We can blame Harper’s chief lieutenant in B.C., former “Heritage” Minister, James Moore, who of course is also responsible for stabbing CBC in the back, commercializing Radio 2, and setting the network up for a series of massive cutbacks.  This is the same MP who now as Minister of Industry used public funds to pick fights with the Big Three cellphone companies only to concede defeat because he realized that he cannot brainwash all Canadians – or find another rival to the Canadian companies. Quite the legacy.

If so-called parliamentarians such as James Moore and Stephen Harper truly had the public interest at heart all Canadians would have a chance to see the Magna Carta.  However, one wonders what kind of spin the government would place on the reception of the Great Charter if the Ministry of Heritage were directly involved. As we all know, parliament ain’t what it used to be. Neither is Canada.  Cynical political calculation now reigns supreme, where everyone is considered an enemy (even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court). It’s Harper who needs King John's lessons from the Magna Carta, but our beloved Prime Minister is not only hiding from his responsibility to world heritage, he is hiding from us.