Darn tootin'
Prime Minister Paul Martin has released his address for bill C-38, being the "gay marriage one" everyone's all hopped up about recently. I gave it a read, and highly encourage everyone else to. At several points, I could only nod my head and agree with everything he says, and I would find it very hard to listen to someone come up with arguments against.

The notwithstanding clause is part of the Charter of Rights. But there’s a reason that no prime minister has ever used it. For a prime minister to use the powers of his office to explicitly deny rather than affirm a right enshrined under the Charter would serve as a signal to all minorities that no longer can they look to the nation’s leader and to the nation’s Constitution for protection, for security, for the guarantee of their freedoms. We would risk becoming a country in which the defence of rights is weighed, calculated and debated based on electoral or other considerations. That would set us back decades as a nation. It would be wrong for the minorities of this country. It would be wrong for Canada. The Charter is a living document, the heartbeat of our Constitution. It is also a proclamation. It declares that as Canadians, we live under a progressive and inclusive set of fundamental beliefs about the value of the individual. It declares that we all are lessened when any one of us is denied a fundamental right. We cannot exalt the Charter as a fundamental aspect of our national character and then use the notwithstanding clause to reject the protections that it would extend. Our rights must be eternal, not subject to political whim.

Right on the button. If this bill doesn't pass, I don't think I'll be alone in losing some faith in Canada as a country.  ¶ 10:45 a.m.