"The Constitution's notwithstanding clause gives provincial legislatures or Parliament the ability to pass legislation that effectively overrides provisions of the Charter, though only for a five-year period. In a filing submitted last month to the Supreme Court of Canada in a case on Quebec's secularism law, Ottawa argues the constitutional limits on the notwithstanding clause preclude using it to distort or wipe out the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Charter. The federal submission says the "temporary character" of the notwithstanding clause confirms that it cannot be used to cause "an irreparable impairment" of Charter rights."
"In a letter sent Tuesday to Prime Minister Mark Carney, the premiers of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia call on the federal government to reconsider its approach "and withdraw its written legal argument immediately." The letter says the federal arguments seek to advance novel limits on the ability of democratically elected legislatures to use the notwithstanding clause. Ottawa's submission also "proposes an unclear and unworkable legal standard with no basis in the text of the Constitution," the letter says. "Put simply, the federal government's arguments represent a complete disavowal of the constitutional bargain that brought the Charter into being," the letter says."
Five premiers from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia demanded that the federal government withdraw a written legal argument seeking limits on the notwithstanding clause. The federal filing to the Supreme Court in a Quebec secularism law case argues constitutional limits prevent using the clause to distort or wipe out Charter rights and that its temporary character precludes causing an irreparable impairment. The federal submission contends courts must retain jurisdiction because such uses would amount to indirectly amending the Constitution. The premiers say the federal position advances novel, unclear limits and disavows the Charter's founding bargain.
#notwithstanding-clause #charter-of-rights-and-freedoms #constitutional-law #federal-provincial-dispute
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