by The Critical Compass and Bruce Pardy
«You can’t be free with the state. You can’t be free without it.
If a constitution is going to work, it has to resolve that paradox.
Queen’s law professor Bruce Pardy at Capitalism & Morality Calgary 2026: China’s constitution says power belongs to the people. Canada’s Charter lists fundamental freedoms. Neither fact changes the legal reality. It does not matter what the document says.
The Canadian model gives Ottawa and the provinces a mandate to pass laws for the general good — peace, order, and good government. That premise means unlimited jurisdiction over everything, then a later attempt to restrain the state with rights. Pardy says that model has failed.
Pardy proposes four features that might work to solve the paradox of the state.»