In 1970, Pierre Trudeau used the War Measures Act -- a harsh and blunt instrument -- to put an end to the FLQ Crisis. Eleven years later, he inserted the Charter Of Rights and Freedoms into a repatriated constitution. To get the premiers to agree to the Charter, he crafted the Not Withstanding Clause. We have come to believe that no premier would ever use the clause. But, Marcus Gee writes:
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has waved this blunt club in the air no less than three times since taking office in 2018: once to threaten to bypass a judge who ruled against a vindictive law to nearly halve the size of Toronto City Council; once to overrule another judge who dared to question a new election-spending law; and then this month to try to impose a settlement on education workers threatening to go on strike.
In Quebec, Premier François Legault has used the override just as casually. He rolled it out to protect a bill that toughens the province’s language strictures and again to fend off judicial scrutiny of his infamous religious-symbols law – the one that forbids teachers from wearing hijabs and cops from wearing turbans.
The symbols law was just the sort of plainly discriminatory measure the Charter was created to prevent. Using the notwithstanding clause to ram the legislation through showed, in the most graphic manner possible, how wrong the don’t-worry-be-happy crowd were when they told us the clause would be used only in “non-controversial” cases.
If either Mr. Ford or Mr. Legault felt any shame for how they acted, they did not show it. Our faith in the restraint of our leaders was misplaced. It’s clear now that they, or others like them down the road, will resort to this constitutional dodge more often, and for worse ends, than we thought.
When that happens, Gee writes, we must "shout from the rooftops:"
The only way to stop them is to make them pay. Those who care about the Charter – and that is most of us – have to shout from the rooftops when they threaten to override it. Mr. Ford faced unexpected fury when he hauled out the notwithstanding club against the education workers. Chastened, he went back to the bargaining table. That shows all is not lost.
There is a lesson here for all of us.
Image: SlidePlayer
8 comments:
Yes, the lesson is that the notwithstanding clause needs to be repealed. The clause is incompatible with a free and democratic society, since it's purpose is to uphold laws that won't pass constitutional muster.
It's a loaded gun just waiting to be used against our freedoms.
Cap
There will always be those who seek to abuse the clause, Cap.
People like Ford see Section 33 as a cudgel, Owen, not a last resort. His brutish ways have only temporarily been set aside, in my view.
Owen, I thought you should take a look at today's NYT op-ed by Thomas Homer-Dixon and Johan Rockstrom. Cheers, MoS.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/13/opinion/coronavirus-ukraine-climate-inflation.html?unlocked_article_code=2hk_7SnZPWXZFfAdk8dFdE_aqGz1nSqd70Wlz305DjPy_LANga1N4IX7F_-UF-tcD9Ti6O8KUKfCvDid99BBqRiuCMftzb6QMl4wx0y_-BphY88Tv-AaaUe8cN2Tb_PRpAApPnej_E7kI8ZA-6ZHVqiGuwiBgVZ-_SJ-mAo6GwuP5vaCl3xlMauh1gbJk3Es4rJlkJ4CgjdvfSrDGCdsWU6tqKbIselQen7iKsi0-cg7B8b5g146hGApxN7vZOohqudmo2ecydGd4IO9GLRehOUHMKLaWnBG-LfEcw1qZ-Frl5xLmH3zDBwRKAhpIFezBxkN8P5dOd9IzD_lMAbSiXOl8ap38wt9pNPrmug2xOE&smid=em-share
I agree, Lorne. Ford is a bully and he won't change his stripes.
A terrific piece, Mound. We only see the pieces and not the interconnection. We're in a bad way. Thanks for the link.
Ford is a bully
Have you noticed that when he hits really determined opposition he backs down? This last episode is an excellent example.
That's exactly how bullies act, jrk. They fold when they meet people who refuse to fear them.
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