Taking Liberties

There have been two huge breaches of our civil liberties in the past few weeks that haven't received much attention on that score.

Protective measures for football

Senator Larry Campbell, who through an amazing coincidence was made a senator within days of arm wrestling the RAV line through, resigning as mayor of Vancouver in the bargain, wants a bill passed to prevent the National Football League playing regular season games in Canada. This will mean that to have such a game would be illegal and a clear breach of our liberties.

What the hell is going on here? Is it suddenly a parliamentary obligation to prevent Canadians seeing things that, though in themselves harmful, pose some sort of competition for Canadian industry (professional football being an industry)?

We watch NFL games through cable controlled by the CRTC, so it can't be that NFL football is evil in itself -- so protection of the CFL, loaded with American players and coaches, must offend the good senator because the CFL requires protection. That being the case, it must have a lousy product -- which, clearly, it does not.

Senator Campbell must have a need to have people talk about him. That certainly seemed to be the case when, at the opening of the Red Robinson Theatre last year, he told the audience a "joke" that was fouler than anything I'd ever heard in a locker room.

Senator Campbell should get back to the duty Canadians expect of him -- say nothing and do nothing, and accept the ill-gotten gains the taxpayer provides him.

Helping women into political office

Carole James and the NDP have a rule that a retiring male MLA must be replaced by a female. That there are not enough women in government, assuming that they should have more than 50 per cent, is a fair point. To suggest that this is because nasty, brutish men are standing in their way is nonsense. There are many things society can and should do to make it easier for a woman to have a life in politics, and there are things Carole James and the NDP can do on their own as an example to the rest of us. What James believes to be an unjust discrimination against women by men will now be turned into a clearly unjust discrimination against men. Will James next be moving for a quota of gays? Non-whites?

What this also raises is a clear breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. How can you say "no men allowed" when it comes to a nomination contest?

While it's not likely to happen, James and the NDP should be facing a charter challenge on behalf of men who have been clearly discriminated against because they have outdoor plumbing, not indoor. This is clearly an exercise in "the end justifies the means," and even that conclusion is doubtful.

If James cannot see what a gross injustice she is creating, then she probably is the wrong person to lead this province.

Related Tyee stories:

• Dion Plays the Gender Card, and It's a Good One
  Plan for parity spices up Lib race.
• Are We Ready for Women in Politics?
  From Stronach to Clinton, opinion is mixed.
• Larry Campbell's RAV Reward
  The route he pushed may have saved MP Owen's seat.