Xavier FM

A major constitutional showdown is now before the Supreme Court of Canada, and at its core is a simple question of who decides. Constitutional interpretation is not a straightforward exercise. Rights are stated at a high level of generality, as they must be, and don’t contain detailed instructions for their application. They must be interpreted and operationalized in the real world, and balanced in relation to other rights and other public policy objectives. Courts are not uniquely equipped to perform this task, nor were they ever meant to monopolize it. In our parliamentary democracy, legislatures have an essential role to play in that process, and that is what section 33 is for - a necessary condition of patriation and part of the constitutional design where coordinate interpretation can occur in a back and forth between courts and legislatures. The federal government has intervened in these cases to argue contrary to the clear textual basis of the Constitution that repeated invocation of the clause “irreparably impairs” a rights. Though the clause clearly prohibits the policing of its use beyond correctness of application, they argue courts should in fact be able to assess whether legislatures have used it too much. Ottawa has also argued that courts should be able to issue declarations that laws are unconstitutional even where section 33 prevents them from being struck down. A constitutional press release, if you will. Formally toothless, but plainly political in purpose and effect. And given the Court’s decision in Power, which contemplates retroactive damages for laws later found to be unconstitutional, this sort of declaratory power could become a backdoor route to financial liability as well. Given all the innovations the courts have been prone to, one would not put this past them.

À la veille de l’intervention de son procureur général à la Cour suprême contre la Loi 21, Mark Carney participe au petit déjeuner national de la prière, en soulignant la parole du Christ. Voici le vivre-ensemble canadien, qu’on tente de nous imposer avec nos taxes et impôts…

2,4 millions pour sortir Trump d’un chapeau pour s’attaquer à la clause dérogatoire et la loi 21? Cher payé.💰 Tout pour affaiblir le Québec et la volonté démocratique des Québécois. Extraits du procès du Québec qui s’ouvrait aujourd’hui à Ottawa 👇