Canadian government asks supreme court to clarify boundaries of constitution's notwithstanding clause

The federal government is urging the Supreme Court of Canada to clarify how far provinces can go in using the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause, emphasizing the risks of eroding rights if the override is invoked too broadly or too often. In written arguments filed Wednesday as an intervener in a challenge to Quebec’s Bill 21, Ottawa does not contest the secularism law directly. Instead, it outlines concerns about the notwithstanding clause, invoked by the Coalition Avenir Québec government in Bill 21. The federal government argues the top court must ensure the clause is not used to “distort or annihilate” constitutional rights and freedoms or to “shrivel them beyond recognition.”
Read the full article here: Montreal Gazette