Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
Shouldn’t we all be ready to join them in the flippant use of the notwithstanding clause?
Effectively the government is saying that in Canada labour rights are not protected if the majority government decides it to be.
We already have court tested mechanisms to legislate essential workers back to work. The Ontario government is trying to do an end around these processes.
Also what can the government do if people refuse to work? It could be deemed an illegal strike and you could terminate people for non performance of their job but if people are willing to take those risks then there isn’t really anything the government can do.
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Agreed. On CBC yesterday they had a panel, one of which included Thomas Mulcair and he made a couple good points.
1) it isn't even so much of the use of the notwithstanding clause, it's the
pre-emptive use of it. It is pretty heavy handed.
2) Trudeau finger wags at Ontario, yet Legault / Quebec did the exact same thing with respect to language laws. But of course, because Quebec is politically valuable to Trudeau it's crickets. Another perfect example of how Quebec can operate in this country with one set of rules and the rest of the country has a different set of rules. Mind you, and importantly, Trudeau hasn't really "done anything" to Ontario he has just basically condemned it- but such statement is still stronger than what he did / didn't do for Quebec.
The other larger problem with this action from Ford, is that it opens the door wide open for all provinces to start enacting the notwithstanding clause pre-emptively which is a massive problem. As such yes, it does make sense for the Liberals to do something here (I think). Not sure what though, and it is admittedly complicated.
on the issue of