Lessons from the notwithstanding clause debate

F.R. Scott, the man who schooled Pierre Trudeau on the Constitution, was frustrated by Section 33’s insertion in the Constitution. His words have come back to haunt us.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has reintroduced a bill to cut Toronto's city council almost in half, using the notwithstanding clause in the Constitution to override a court decision that said the legislation was unconstitutional.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY ANDREW CADDELL

September 19, 2018

When I was an assistant to the opposition leader in Newfoundland and Labrador in the early 1980s, I would often get into lengthy discussions with my friend and co-worker, the late David Kennedy, who was a poet, journalist, and political animal. One day we were discussing poetry and I asked if he kn...

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