The federal government has long objected to provinces using the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ “notwithstanding” clause, arguing it lets them trample over the rights of Canadians. But that view, flawed as it is, is nothing compared to Ottawa’s latest gambit on this issue, writes Andrew Roman. Liberal Justice Minister Sean Fraser’s recent intervention in the case of Quebec’s Bill 21 asks the Supreme Court of Canada to declare limits on the use of the notwithstanding clause. This would amount to a backdoor amendment of the Constitution by the court, one that would give judges even more power and leave elected representatives even less scope to avoid or undo their harmful decisions. More than just an attack on provincial autonomy, writes Roman, it threatens to upset the balance at the heart of Canada’s federal democracy.

Sweden may have inflicted Greta Thunberg and her environmental hectoring on the world, but Canada is now making its own contribution to children’s activism. Ontario climate zealots have launched a court battle – with seven children and youth named as applicants – alleging the province’s modest rollback of its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets violates their Charter rights. Exploiting children is bad enough, but in this devastating critique, retired litigation lawyer Andrew Roman explains how the activists use legal and logical fallacies to make their case. And he exposes the fundamental flaw in the entire matter – that Courts should not even be ruling on the inherently political matter of climate policy.

The current Canadian government claims the assessment process for deciding the fate of major natural resource projects including pipelines will be much improved if Bill C-69 becomes law. Andrew Roman has studied the proposed legislation in depth and arrived at the opposite conclusion. Considering all the new opportunities the law creates for litigation by environmental advocacy and Aboriginal opponents – including a special new right of First Nations to present evidence in secret – Ottawa’s claim brings to mind the words of the old Scottish proverb: if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.