Terrebonne — a riding linked to the birth of Canadian democracy.
So fascinating, the seesaw outcome in the riding of Terrebonne after the most recent federal election.
Is it a strange, historic accident — or is there a spell on the riding of Terrebonne? Those of you interested in political drama will have noticed that the outcome in the election there was decided by one vote — a one vote lead out of forty thousand votes cast!
The loser must feel awful. On the other hand, they almost won. And elections do have to be decided by counting. At least we know that the counting in Canada is done in front of witnesses from all parties. If there is a recount, a judge is involved. And now there is a legal challenge on top of the recount.
Complicated? Yes! But no American or other third-world style nonsense. Well, rarely.
Why do I focus on Terrebonne? That was the riding of the first democratically chosen Prime Minister of Canada — Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine. He became Premier of the Canadas on March 11, 1848, with Robert Baldwin as his number two.
This was preceded by the election of the government of Joseph Howe and James Uniacke a few weeks before in Nova Scotia.
But, back to Terrebonne. The conceptualization of what democracy could look like in Canada began with LaFontaine’s public letter — Address to the Electors of Terrebonne, on August 25th, 1840. Within a month it was in English. Everyone in favour of democracy grabbed hold of this document as proof that there was a way forward. Here is the conclusion:
WE WILL SECURE OUR POLITICAL LIBERTY. THEY CAN DENY US OUR POLITICAL LIBERTY ONLY IF THEY ARE ABLE TO DESTROY THAT SOCIAL EQUALITY WHICH CONSTITUTES THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTIC AS MUCH OF THE POPULATION OF UPPER CANADA AS OF LOWER CANADA. FOR THIS SOCIAL EQUALITY MUST NECESSARILY BRING US OUR POLITICAL LIBERTY. THE PRINCIPLES OF A PEOPLE ARE STRONGER THAN THE LAWS IMPOSED UPON THEM. NO PRIVILEGED CASTE, BEYOND AND ABOVE THE MASS OF THE PEOPLE, CAN EXIST IN CANADA.
This was the foundation of what would become the Canadian idea of democracy. We should be teaching this in school. It should be memorized. Egalitarianism lies at the core of what we have built over the last 177 years.
We need to judge ourselves against this standard.
