Constitutional law
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To Be Something
Speaking of our lawmakers, Pierre Trudeau (in)famously remarked that “when they are 50 yards from Parliament Hill, they are no longer honourable members, they are just nobodies.” Not that the honourable members fared any better on Parliament Hill ― over there they were, as he apparently also said, just “trained seals,” performing whatever tricks their party… Continue reading
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What Matters in the Province?
I mentioned, in my discussion of my doubts regarding the constitutionality of consultative elections for Senate nominees under the “Peace, Order and Good Government” (POGG) power of s. 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867, that I also had doubts about authority of the provinces to set up such elections. As in that post, my thoughts… Continue reading
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Lack of National Concern
Here’s a question that bothers me. In the arguments about its proposed Senate reform, the federal government has asserted that it could set “consultative” elections of Senate “nominees” pursuant to the general “peace, order and good government” (a.k.a. POGG) power of s. 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867. The counter-argument is that such elections are a… Continue reading
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Senate Reference Notes
I took notes while watching the Senate Reference hearings last week ― it’s not a verbatim transcript of course, but as close to one as I could manage. In case you are interested in what went on ― beyond my very partial summaries here and here ― but cannot or do not want to watch the whole… Continue reading
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What to Make of the Constitution
I have written a post on the Senate Reference hearings for I-CONnect, the blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law. In large part, it follows up on and develops some of the ideas I had in my first impressions post last week, with a bit more context. I am cross-posting it below. *** Over… Continue reading
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What’s Missing from this Picture?
The Supreme Court does not live by the Senate alone. This morning, it delivered a decision on the interaction of the rights to privacy and freedom of expression, Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner) v. United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401, 2013 SCC 62, finding Alberta’s privacy-protection legislation unconstitutional as an overbroad restriction of legitimate expressive… Continue reading
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First Impressions
I will have more structured and fuller thoughts in the next days, but here are some initial impressions, in no particular order, of the Supreme Court’s hearings on the Senate Reference, almost all of which I watched. *** This case is, of course, largely about constitutional interpretation. (Much more so, in fact, than most constitutional… Continue reading
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The Puzzle of Neutrality
While we are waiting for the conclusion of the greatest show on earth, a.k.a. as the Supreme Court’s hearings on the Senate reference, here are a couple of thoughts on an unrelated matter ― the case in which the Court has been asked to consider the validity under the Québec Charter of Human Rights and… Continue reading
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Its Own Place
“The mind is its own place,” says Milton’s Satan. And since computers have, for all practical purposes, replaced our brains, so are those, right? The Supreme Court of Canada, at any rate, agrees. In a case decided last week, R. v. Vu, 2013 SCC 60, it held that police cannot search a computer on the basis… Continue reading
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Bad Poetry
“A statute is written to entrap meaning, a poem to escape it.” So writes Hillary Mantel in Bring Up the Bodies. That’s true ― normally. But some statutes are in fact written to escape meaning rather than to capture it. They are usually bad statutes, and often bad poetry. What was first mooted as the… Continue reading
Double Aspect 