New Quebec Premier Fréchette warns Carney not to touch notwithstanding clause
Less than 48 hours after becoming premier, Christine Fréchette travelled to Ottawa on Friday with a message for Prime Minister Mark Carney: Don’t limit the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause.
Ottawa “should not touch the notwithstanding clause — it’s an important tool for Quebec, for our nation,” she told reporters as she arrived at Parliament Hill.
After her meeting, Fréchette said Carney assured her that he has “no intention of amending or placing limits” on the clause.
The constitutional override allows governments to temporarily shield laws from court challenges based on certain fundamental freedoms protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including freedom of expression and religion.
The meeting between Fréchette and Carney had been announced a day earlier. Hours before it was to take place, however, comments by federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser threatened to derail the encounter.
Fraser told the CBC he has “significant concerns” about provinces using the clause “to adopt laws that, in my view, do violate or could violate the rights of Canadians.”
He said the federal government is “going to do what we can to protect the Constitution and protect the ability of Canadians to live freely in this country with the full protection that the Charter is intended to provide.”
Fraser said he would wait to see what the Supreme Court of Canada says when it rules on a challenge to Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21.
Quebec invoked the notwithstanding clause to shield that law, which bars government workers in positions of power from wearing religious symbols.
At hearings on Bill 21 in March, Ottawa urged the top court to clarify limits on the clause, warning it should not give legislatures “unlimited” powers.
On social media before arriving in Ottawa, Fréchette said she had “taken note of Fraser’s intention to legally regulate the use of the notwithstanding clause.”
She added: “The answer is ‘No! Absolutely not!’ I will fight tooth and nail to defend the use of this clause.
“This important tool allows us to pass laws that protect our nation and that the majority of Quebecers want — notably on the French language, culture, secularism, and our values, particularly regarding equality between men and women. As a nationalist, I will do everything to preserve it.”
Later, standing next to Carney ahead of their meeting, Fréchette said she was ready to co-operate with the federal government as she did when she was immigration and economy minister under former premier François Legault.
“Of course, this must be done in a way that respects the Quebec nation and our jurisdiction,” she said, adding Quebec must protect its “identity, language and economy.”
Carney made brief remarks, saying he looked forward to discussing issues such as immigration and housing.
Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette also weighed in on the notwithstanding clause.
The clause “is part of the Constitution, whether the federal government likes it or not,” he wrote on social media.
“It has been invoked 72 times by Quebec since 1982. If Ottawa wants to bypass the Constitution to limit the democratic powers of the federated states, they will find us in their path.”
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