About not voting
It is said that voting is a duty, and that those who don't do it make "excuses." It is said that that those who don't fail to honour those who died or are dying fighting for …
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Articles by this author
Antonin Scalia and the challenge of originalism
The death of Antonin Scalia, probably the best-known judge of the U.S. Supreme Court, has provoked an outpouring of reactions, including in Canada. Justice Scalia famously, or notoriously, championed―and had helped develop―the idea that the …
Read MoreChallenge to oath to the Queen, RIP
The Supreme Court has denied leave to appeal in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Canadian citizenship oath, meaning that the decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario which found the oath constitutional, McAteer …
Read MoreDemocratic reform vs the Charter
Co-blogger Emmett Marfarlane has given us an instructive, in-depth, look at the mandate letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the Justice Minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould. If this mandate is carried out, the government of Canada will …
Read MoreHow not to criticize the supreme court
As the CBA National Magazine's excellent Yves Faguy notes on its blog, "charges of judicial activism [directed at the Supreme Court of Canada] are back in vogue." He links to a couple of examples. Yet …
Read MoreLaw of Democracy Symposium at UofO
Since our kindly editor, Dan Gardner, encourages us to "publicize conference," I would like to put in a word for a Symposium on "The Changing Landscape of Canadian Electoral Law" organized by the Ottawa Law …
Read MoreLe droit et les droits
Dans un article publié dans Policy Options ce mois-ci, Linda Cardinal et Rémi Léger vilipendent l'arrêt Caron c. Alberta de la Cour suprême, qui a statué que la province n'était pas sujette à des obligations constitutionnelles …
Read MoreQuébec's missed opportunities on the sharing economy
According to Le Soleil, Québec is about to make regulatory peace with Airbnb. The government, according to Le Soleil's source, has come to the conclusion that Airbnb is a "wonderful platform" (translation mine), and that …
Read MoreRecommended reading on mandatory voting
While co-blogger Derek Antoine has recently argued that "we need to stop talking about mandatory voting," it would appear that Barack Obama is not reading Policy Options. (I trust that Dan Gardner, our editor, is working on that one!) …
Read MoreSo much to do
Sean Fine outlines many of the "justice-" (or at least law-) related files that will require the incoming government's attention. Some of these are quite urgent, such as assisted suicide legislation and ongoing court challenges …
Read MoreSupreme Misconceptions
After hockey, our favourite national pastime is finding the differences between Canada and the United States, and bragging about them to ourselves. Any subject is fair game for this, and our respective Supreme Courts certainly are. …
Read MoreThe Charter is of no party
One does not disagree with those one admires without some trepidation. And so it is disquieting to me that I feel compelled to dissent, in part, from Grégoire Webber's yesterday's post describing the Liberal Party of Canada …
Read MoreThe judicial activism debate (Continued)
Emmett Macfarlane has a post over at Maclean's, "elaborating on what judicial activism means and why it can be a useful concept" (according to his own summary here). It is, in part, a response to …
Read MoreThe notwithstanding clause’s toxic legacy
It was Saskatchewan’s NDP Premier Alan Blakeney who insisted that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms contain a provision that would allow elected officials to set aside judicial decisions regarding its import. To the …
Read MoreThere will be no Harper revolution
His government appointed hundreds of judges, including eight to the Supreme Court. It required new appointees to the Supreme Court to submit to televised questioning by a parliamentary committee. It clashed with the Chief Justice …
Read MoreThird Parties and Democracy 2.0
First of all, apologies to Policy Options readers for my long silence. Shameless self-promotion may not be the ideal way to break it, but here it is. I wanted to discuss, briefly, an article of …
Read MoreWhat to do about "judicial activism"
According to a report by Tim Naumetz in the Hill Times, the "judicial activism" meme was played out at the Manning Conference today, in presentations by Dwight Newman and Rainer Knopff. Mr. Naumetz does not …
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