Roundup: The possible constitutional crisis Ford wrought

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The fallout of Doug Ford’s pre-emptive use of the Notwithstanding Clause to bigfoot labour rights carried on yesterday on a few different fronts. In Queen’s Park, the NDP’s interim leader and half of their caucus were ejected by the Speaker for calling Doug Ford a liar over his comments about the CUPE strike, and not retracting. And when one was ejected, another one did on their turn, and so on. This is becoming a problem in legislatures and the House of Commons federally, where it becomes difficult to call out blatant falsehoods because of the prohibitions from calling someone a liar, which has absolutely emboldened parties and elected officials in their respective legislatures at different times, but it’s really bad right now.

Federally, NDP MP Matthew Green tried to call for an emergency debate on this abuse of the power, but it was not deemed worthy, and I’m at a loss as to how it could be because this isn’t a federal matter, and there is nothing the federal government can legitimately do (and don’t say Disallowance, because that is a constitutional dead letter). Later in the day, Justin Trudeau had a call with Doug Ford to tell him that his pre-emptive use of the Notwithstanding Clause was “wrong and inappropriate,” but I’m not sure what more he can do about that, other than try and encourage enough public sentiment against Ford. After all, he likes to be the fun uncle, and if enough people are mad at him, he will back down. The question is sustaining enough anger and ensuring it is widespread enough for Ford to blink.

https://twitter.com/AaronWherry/status/1587989392383148032

Meanwhile, Andrew Coyne argues that federal disallowance powers should be revived to stop provinces’ abusive pre-emptive use of the Notwithstanding clause, and it’s a position I’m going to have to give more thought to, because in a limited way there could be an argument, but it would have to be very particular. I will also note that over Twitter, there has been some chatter that there wasn’t this disallowance talk with Quebec using the Notwithstanding Clause, which is wrong—it has been there, but it is usually met with the same reply, that it’s a constitutional dead letter, and you’re provoking a constitutional crisis. But the constant abuse may have provoked that very crisis, so it’s going to need some very careful consideration as to what next steps are, and what the unintended consequences may be.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 253:

Russia is re-joining the deal to export Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea days after it pulled out of the agreement, saying that their security concerns have been met. Ukraine has officially denied being involved in the attack on Russian ships over the weekend, but president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russia seeking security guarantees from Ukraine is a sign of how badly its invasion has gone for them.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau won’t be attending COP27, as he will be attending other summits with ASEAN, the G20, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the Francophonie.
  • Trudeau convened the Incidence Response Group yesterday to discuss Haiti.
  • Senior Liberal Sources™ say the Fall Economic Statement will propose a tax on corporate stock buybacks.
  • Following a national security review, François-Philippe Champagne is ordering three Chinese-owned companies to sell their interest in critical mineral firms.
  • The government has been dropping more hints about what to expect in the forthcoming Indo-Pacific Strategy.
  • There are concerns that there may not be enough supports for unaccompanied Ukrainian minors travelling to Canada for safety.
  • The Emergencies Act public inquiry heard from the occupation lawyer, who spoke of police feeding them information, as well as organizer Pat King and his lunacy.
  • Non-affiliated senators are complaining they aren’t being more included in decision-making (and I fear I’m going to have to write something longer on this).
  • Liberals on the Heritage committee are contemplating amendments to the online news bill to make small, upstart outlets qualify for web giant funding.
  • François Legault is claiming that the federal government’s new immigration targets are too much for Quebec, and he wants to reduce their levels.
  • Legault’s government says they will introduce a bill to make the oath to the King optional, but they don’t have that power because it’s in the federal constitution.
  • Heather Scoffield gets the strategic leaks of the Fall Economic Statement, and its “rapid reaction” fund to help struggling people if we wind up in a recession.
  • Jessica Davis walks through what we’ve learned about police intelligence during the occupation, and why it’s a very big problem.
  • Colby Cosh ponders if there is another, more self-interested motive in the high levels of support for more immigration in this country.

Odds and ends:

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