politics

July 17, 2012

The Prerogative of High-Handedness

Today, the Federal Court of Canada has issued its decision in Turp v. Canada (Justice), 2012 FC 893, rejecting Daniel Turp’s challenge to the federal government’s decision to withdraw Canada from the Kyoto Protocol. Unambiguously correct in law, this decision illustrates the importance of politics, and the limits of the power of the courts to hold governments Continue reading

Constitutional law, Political philosophy, The Justice System

federal court of canada, Kyoto, politics, underlying principles
July 16, 2012

The Moneyed Interests

Restrictions on pre-electoral spending by citizens and groups other than political parties and their candidates (known in the jargon as “third-party spending”) have gained a rather unlikely supporter: Tom Flanagan. Prof. Flanagan, arguably Canada’s most prominent conservative thinker, has come out in support of such restrictions in an op-ed in the Globe and Mail. This Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law of Democracy, Political philosophy

campaign spending, election law, elections, john rawls, politics, unions
July 16, 2012

Ne parlez pas en bien, ne parlez pas en mal

Radio-Canada a mis en ligne une entrevue avec Denis Dion, un porte-parole du Directeur général des élections du Québec, portant, pour l’essentiel, sur l’application éventuelle de la Loi électorale, et notamment de ses règles concernant les « tiers », aux médias sociaux, vu l’importance du rôle qu’ils pourraient jouer dans la prochaine campagne électorale. C’est Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law of Democracy, New Technologies

election law, elections, médias sociaux, politics, politique, Québec, social media
June 30, 2012

The Separation of Spending and Speech

I commented yesterday onVincent Marissal’s column in La Presse about the impact of social media on the upcoming election campaign in Québec – and the way in which the social media undermine the regulation of the electoral process that limits the electoral expenses of “third parties” – citizens, groups, or organizations that are neither political Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law of Democracy, New Technologies, Political philosophy

election law, elections, médias sociaux, politics, social media
June 29, 2012

Une campagne 1.9

Vincent Marissal a publié une chronique intéressante dans La Presse ce matin, sur “la première vraie campagne 2.0” que le Québec vivra lorsque les élections seront déclenchées – vraisemblablement dans les prochains mois. Contrairement aux États-Unis, où internet et, surtout, les réseaux sociaux ont transformé les campagnes électorales dès 2004, et certainement en 2008, le Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law of Democracy, New Technologies

election law, elections, médias sociaux, politics, politique, Québec, social media
June 26, 2012

Who Plays on a Level Field?

Any regulation of the democratic process reflects a certain normative view of an idealized democracy. For example the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, 558 U.S. 50 (2010), to allow corporate and union spending on electoral campaigns reflects a (stated) view that democracy functions best Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law of Democracy

election law, elections, judges, metaphors, politics
June 6, 2012

An Ancient Parliamentary Right

I learned something about constitutional and Parliamentary tradition yesterday, and decided I’d post about because I was probably not alone in my ignorance of this quirk. Apologies to those in the know already! *** Each session of the mother of parliaments, at Westminster, and her daughters throughout the Commonwealth, starts with a Speech from the Continue reading

Constitutional law, History

Canada, constitution, government, Parliament, parliamentary tradition, politics, separation of powers
May 28, 2012

It’s Not a POGGrom!

Canada’s “newspaper of record” has published an ignorant rant by Neil Reynolds, savaging alleged abuses, rhetorical, legislative, and jurisprudential, of the “Peace, Order, and Good government” (a.k.a. POGG) clause of s. 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867, which sets out the powers of the federal Parliament. While the words “peace, order, and good good government” Continue reading

Constitutional law, Federalism

Canada, federalism, government, POGG, politics
May 24, 2012

More about Election Law

There are two things to mention today, both related to election law, and more specifically to restrictions on “third-party” speech in the pre-electoral context. First, Radio-Canada reports that Québec’s Chief Electoral Officer has been in touch with the leaders of the student organizations who are protesting the tuition fee hikes announced by the provincial government. The Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law of Democracy

censorship, election law, free speech, freedom of expression, politics, student protests
May 16, 2012

Can Canada Ban Books?

The New Yorker has published an interesting, albeit tendentious, as The Volokh Conspiracy’s Jonathan Adler explains, account by Jeffrey Toobin of the notorious Citizens United decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down limits on corporations’ spending on pre-electoral advertising. According to Mr. Toobin, the key to Supreme Court’s engagement with the case was a question asked by Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law of Democracy

censorship, election law, elections, freedom of expression, politics