Brian Peckford, the last living First Minister to negotiate the Canadian Constitution, says democracy has a long, worthy tradition in the west and those who want to preserve it must engage.The former Newfoundland premier made his comments to We Unify's Reclaiming Canada Conference in Victoria on Sunday.In introductory comments, lawyer Eva Chipiuk said “the freedom conflict” was “the largest civil disobedience this country has seen and probably will level ever seen for a long time.”Peckford recalled the long heritage of democracy on the continent, citing the first representative assembly in Virginia in 1690 and Nova Scotia’s which began in 1758.“Don't forget those people. We have ancestors who were fighting for freedom and representative and responsible government before our countries even existed and we owe it to them,” he said.“We are people. The people of the US and Canada have got to save our democracy.”Peckord recalled democratic advocates in Roman times and the philosophers that helped form its ideas. In current times, it’s hard enough to find a venue.“On this island of Vancouver [are] very few public institutions will rent space for me to speak,” he said.“The freedom groups ended up renting places like (Pastor Art) Pawlowski’s church, all the fundamental evangelical Christian organizations, from Black Creek to [Port] Alberni to Victoria, as where I am to speak.”The former premier referenced the fight by some to change the name of Powell River, BC, over the namesakes’ connection to residential schools. He said the freedom group was sizeable there, but had to war against calls for the library to cancel space to present their views.“Things are changing, there may be more people coming onside. But there's still a real, real problem,” he said.Peckford admitted, after refusing three previous requests, he accepted a position on the board of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and remained there for five years.“Shame on you!” a heckler joked, to the laughter of the audience.Peckford said he and the chair of the day made many efforts to bring reforms.“I've seen the inside of our public broadcaster, too, as well as the political parties of this speech, and I don’t like what I see,” he said.The 81-year-old said the premiers who helped craft the constitution forty years ago seemed more willing to contend for what Canada should be than much of the country’s current political leadership. He said amendments to improve the document won’t be possible without political mobilization.“It all comes down to politics. And if you hate politics, I'm sorry, but that's the only way we're going to change it, is if we work on all the politics.”The retired premier said people should demand audited financial statements of every party that asks them for donations.“If we don't know how they manage their parties, why the hell are these people involved with managing our governments?” Peckford said.Peckford, citing the prime minister’s five violations of conflict of interest laws, said one violation should be enough to remove anyone from office. He also urged people to get involved in a political party.“It’s highly likely we've gone so far that it’s not gonna be possible to do [what we want] with the existing parties. We're going to have to start from scratch,” he added.Chipiuk told the applauding audience to follow up with action.“We're looking for heroes and I see this all the time. We go from the largest civil disobedience in this country to civil nothing,” she said.“If you're not involved in a constituency association, you're already lost. You're not part of the system. you're coming here for Mr. Peckford to find your solutions where the solutions are there for you. These systems are there for you…“You have the power. It's there. Let's get organized, let's get strategic, let's get educated and involved.”
