The Leader of the Green Party of Canada, Elizabeth May (MP-Saanich-Gulf Islands) is calling upon the Prime Minister to accept today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Canada:
"It was obvious even as C-4, the most recent omnibus budget bill, was pushed through the House of Commons, that the provisions to retroactively sanitize the unconstitutional decision to appoint Marc Nadon to the SCC was itself an abuse. It was a double abuse as it was lumped in, as is all too often the case in Harper's omnibus budget bills, with other unrelated measures. The attempt to re-write provisions for appointing Supreme Court justices was also, flagrantly, not related to the budget. It was also offensive as it was, as the Supreme Court has now confirmed, unconstitutional.
I urge the Prime Minister to abandon any notion of trying to circumvent the ruling of our highest court by attempting to appoint Judge Nadon by some other means. I urge the Minister of Justice, the Hon. Peter MacKay to put to use his good legally trained brain and ensure that bills put before the House are subjected to advance review by knowledgeable Justice Department lawyers so that we stop wasting Parliament's time and stop clogging the courts with legislation that was, on its face, unlikely to survive a court challenge, but which the House keeps passing in blind disregard of the consequences.
In this category I draw the Minister of Justice's attention to the Fair Elections Act, C-23, which many jurists believe will not survive a Charter Challenge as it diminishes the Section 3 rights under the Charter and to FATCA which will not survive a section 15 challenge."
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Contact:
Nicholas Gall
Communications Officer
Green Party of Canada
(613) 562 4916
[email protected]