Liberals accuse Poilievre of planning to override charter rights with notwithstanding clause

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Con‐ servative Leader Pierre Poilievre of seeking to override constitutional rights following comments he made to the Canadian Police Association on Mon‐ day.

"Poilievre just proposed to override the fundamental freedoms and protections of Canadians, override the charter that is there to pro‐ tect women, minorities, 2SLGBTQI+ communities," Trudeau told reporters on his way into question period on Tuesday.

"That's not right and it's not responsible."

WATCH | PM calls Poilievre's hint at use of notwithstanding clause 'not responsible':

During his speech to the police association, Poilievre promised to implement more stringent requirements for bail and make it harder for convicted murderers to transfer out of maximum se‐ curity prisons.

The Tory leader hinted that he would use the notwithstanding clause to protect his proposed justice reforms from judicial review.

"We will make them con‐ stitutional, using whatever tools the Constitution allows me to use to make them con‐ stitutional. I think you know exactly what I mean,"

Poilievre said Monday.

When asked by reporters to clarify his comments on Tuesday, Poilievre repeated his suggestion that his pro‐ posals will be "fully constitu‐ tional."

"I will decide in my plat‐ form … my platform will be clear," he said.

WATCH | Poilievre is asked how often he would use the notwithstanding clause:

In 2022, Poilievre said he would use the notwithstand‐ ing clause to reinstate a law that gave judges discretion to hand out consecutive, 25year blocks of parole ineligi‐ bility to offenders who com‐ mit multiple first-degree murders.

The Supreme Court ruled that law was unconstitutional in the case of Alexandre Bis‐ sonette, who killed six people in a Quebec City mosque in 2017.

The notwithstanding clause, or Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, gives parlia‐ ments in Canada the power to override certain portions of the charter for five-year terms when passing legisla‐ tion.

Once invoked, Section 33 prevents any judicial review of the legislation in question.

"[Poilievre has] laid bare his intention to address his view of criminal law by tramping on charter rights," Justice Minister Arif Virani said of Poilievre's comments.

"I also think Canadians should be analyzing this for what it is and asking what other rights would he pur‐ port to override."

Section 33 has never been used at the federal level but has been used a number of times provincially, most often in Quebec.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet told reporters Tuesday that the suggestion that a federal leader would use the notwithstanding clause proves it's legitimate for provinces to invoke.

"The fact that a federal leader would want to use this notwithstanding clause makes it clear that it's ab‐ solutely legit for Quebec or any province to do the same," Blanchet said.

NDP House Leader Peter Julian called Poilievre's com‐ ments "profoundly disturb‐ ing."

"[Poilievre] seems willing to delete our rights," he said outside the House of Com‐ mons Tuesday.

Julian pointed to a num‐ ber of laws that were passed by the Stephen Harper Con‐ servative government that have since been struck down by the courts.

"The Harper government … repeatedly botched legisla‐ tion in the House of Com‐ mons, did not pay attention to our rights and liberties," Julian said. "Conservatives should have taken a lesson from that."

WATCH | Poilievre using notwithstanding clause would be 'traumatic': con‐ stitutional lawyer

Asked about Poilievre's comments, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May ac‐ cused Poilievre of "sloganeer‐ ing untethered from princi‐ ple."

"I'm deeply disturbed that Mr. Poilievre would think it's acceptable to suggest the federal government would use the notwithstanding clause to bulldoze through not just our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but centuries of adherence to the principle that anyone in our criminal justice system is innocent un‐ til proven guilty," she told an unrelated news conference on Tuesday.

"He wants to take a wreck‐ ing ball to the foundational principles of our civilization."