I’m in favour of clearing the encampment, and I’m fairly skeptical of the ruling itself, but unless we have somewhere else to put these people in the medium term we’re just moving the problem elsewhere and that’s utterly pointless from a policy perspective. And as for using the NSC? That’s a slippery slope I would rather we not even consider
TiredRuralCanadian on
Using the notwithstanding clause here is just lazy governance. Overriding Charter rights to clear an encampment doesn’t magically create social housing or fix the underlying issues. It just shuffles vulnerable people from one piece of dirt to another so the government can pretend the problem is solved. Until there is actual, suitable housing or a real plan to help them within their situation, attacking people who are already down and out accomplishes absolutely nothing. It is using a massive constitutional hammer to hide a systemic failure rather than doing the hard work to fix it.
enki-42 on
I feel like Ford is worse than Smith in some respects when it comes to the NWC. Smith deserves a ton of criticism for using the notwithstanding clause for attacking labour rights and trans people, but you at least get the sense that she uses it for things that are important to her or her base.
Ford is just completely flippant with his use or threatened use of it, he’ll jump to threatening to use the NWC whenever he doesn’t get his way, even for relatively unimportant things. It’s clear he has absolutely zero respect for the Charter.
fabiusjmaximus on
People may bemoan use of the NWC, but judges are creating a very compelling reason for its existence beyond its origin in constitutional wrangling.
Novel and specious rulings that further extend the notion of what Charter rights entail and expand the judiciary into the business of the legislatures justifies use of the NWC. The constitutional order is being upset.
Salford1969 on
Give a guy a majority in 3 elections and he thinks he is above pushback. He is definitely past his expiration date.
grumpy_herbivore on
Maybe if Doug would do something to help the unhoused folks instead of trying to criminalize them it wouldn’t be such an issue.
Clevesque31 on
When judges abuse the charter by inventing new rights that never existed and shouldn’t exist, the only appropriate legislative response is the NWC. Our system is one of parliamentary supremacy, not judicial fiat.
7 Comments
I’m in favour of clearing the encampment, and I’m fairly skeptical of the ruling itself, but unless we have somewhere else to put these people in the medium term we’re just moving the problem elsewhere and that’s utterly pointless from a policy perspective. And as for using the NSC? That’s a slippery slope I would rather we not even consider
Using the notwithstanding clause here is just lazy governance. Overriding Charter rights to clear an encampment doesn’t magically create social housing or fix the underlying issues. It just shuffles vulnerable people from one piece of dirt to another so the government can pretend the problem is solved. Until there is actual, suitable housing or a real plan to help them within their situation, attacking people who are already down and out accomplishes absolutely nothing. It is using a massive constitutional hammer to hide a systemic failure rather than doing the hard work to fix it.
I feel like Ford is worse than Smith in some respects when it comes to the NWC. Smith deserves a ton of criticism for using the notwithstanding clause for attacking labour rights and trans people, but you at least get the sense that she uses it for things that are important to her or her base.
Ford is just completely flippant with his use or threatened use of it, he’ll jump to threatening to use the NWC whenever he doesn’t get his way, even for relatively unimportant things. It’s clear he has absolutely zero respect for the Charter.
People may bemoan use of the NWC, but judges are creating a very compelling reason for its existence beyond its origin in constitutional wrangling.
Novel and specious rulings that further extend the notion of what Charter rights entail and expand the judiciary into the business of the legislatures justifies use of the NWC. The constitutional order is being upset.
Give a guy a majority in 3 elections and he thinks he is above pushback. He is definitely past his expiration date.
Maybe if Doug would do something to help the unhoused folks instead of trying to criminalize them it wouldn’t be such an issue.
When judges abuse the charter by inventing new rights that never existed and shouldn’t exist, the only appropriate legislative response is the NWC. Our system is one of parliamentary supremacy, not judicial fiat.