"Civil Rights is Not a Popularity Contest"

The above statement was made by Candian Prime Minister Paul Martin in response to demands that the issue of same sex marriage be determined by a national referendum.



Justice Minister Irwin Colter put expressed similar sentiments in response to Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's national vote concept:

"He's trying to do an end run around the Charter of Rights and Freedoms," Cotler said of Klein's position. "And it's not going to work. "You don't subject minority rights to a referendum,'' Cotler told the Toronto Star over the weekend. "That's not what we do in Canada."

If only Justice Scalia could embrace this idea for the United States as well.