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The use of the Notwithstanding Clause is out of control. It’s up to voters to stop it
(www.nationalobserver.com)
Rip that corruption from the charter.
this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2025
72 points (100.0% liked)
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They tried. It was the compromise necessary to unite us as a nation.
The blame is squarely on Alberta and Quebec for compromising us all.
Fucking Ontario uses it.
They didn’t advocate for it to exist in the first place.
The author tries hard to excuse Peter Lougheed but the fact is that it was his idea to begin with. If he thought it should require a two thirds majority then he should have fought to have that written into the Constitution. Opinions are irrelevant. The fact is that the Notwithstanding Clause exists because the premiers wanted politicians to be the ultimate arbiters of what rights and freedoms should be and not the courts. It is doing exactly what it was intended to do. I know of no other country that has a Constitution and gives politicians the ability to ignore it. I am tired of being told it's up to voters to correct this sort of thing. No, it isn't, for several reasons. Even if we vote down a government that abuses the Notwithstanding Clause, it will still be there and there is absolutely no guarantee it won't be abused in the future. The Notwithstanding Clause has to be eliminated by a constitutional amendment, permanently. And that is the politicians' responsibility, not the voters'.
Sorry, not Canadian but I want to confirm: The Notwithstanding Clause allows provincial legislatures to specifically violate the constitution and prevent courts from reviewing the matter?
Is the only recourse to wait, unelect the provincial legislators responsible, and then undo it?
I’ve never known of this until now and am completely shocked this exists as a real legal mechanism…
It allows the violation of certain individual clauses of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, not the entire Constitution, and its effect lapses after five years if whatever chucklefucks are in office at the provincial level at that time don't care enough to reconfirm the violation. Not that that's much better.
Abuse