An Argument For Limiting S33 Of The Charter
S33 (The Notwithstanding Clause) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (The Charter) is a "nuclear weapon" that can be used to override the guarantees in the rest of…
Supreme Court of Canada
Protecting the Environment: There has to be a better way
In 2019 the federal government enacted the Impact Assessment Act which regulated “designated projects” (think: oil sands, mining and other major projects within provincial boundaries). The Kenney government tagged it…
Joltin’ Judge Brown lasts one round
There was a mystery haunting our Supreme Court throughout February. Justice Russell Brown wasn’t showing up for work. Last week the mystery was solved. The judge has been suspended with…
Episode 71: Peace, Order and Good Carbon Taxes
University of Alberta economist Andrew Leach joins the Daveberta Podcast for a rousing discussion about the Supreme Court of Canada’s big decision about the federal carbon tax, the politics of…
Mr Kenney Responds to the Supreme Court of Canada
“Parliament acted within its jurisdiction.” – Supreme Court of Canada Reference re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act On Mar 25 Premier Kenney issued a statement followed by a press conference…
Mr. Kenney, take back control of the damn tax!
It’s encouraging to hear someone in the upper reaches of the Canadian establishment recognize reality. Ruling on the appeal by Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan against the federal carbon tax, the…
UCP gobsmacked by widely anticipated Supreme Court ruling – Jason Kenney: No Plan, No Way!
According to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, he was so sure his government would win its challenge of the federal government’s carbon-mitigation law that he never gave it a second thought,…
Supreme Court settles the carbon pricing matter in Ottawa’s favour – and maybe a lot more than that
Canadians worried about the survival of the country had cause for relief yesterday morning with news the Supreme Court of Canada had ruled 6-3 the federal government is entitled to…
Does Canada Need a Head of State
From Twitter Adrian Harewood @CBCAdrianH 23 Jan Why in 2021 is a Canadian Prime Minister, the leader of a #G7 nation, still reporting to a #Queen who doesn’t live in…
Alberta’s Bill 1 is bad law, bad theatre, and an unconstitutional attack on the fundamental rights of citizens
If the passage of Bill 1 by the Alberta Legislature last month demonstrates anything, it’s the contempt in which Premier Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party hold the rule…
What comes after the Supreme Court ruling on Royal Succession?
Badge of the Supreme Court of Canada Last Thursday the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a ruling by the Quebec Court of Appeal on the 2013Succession to the Throne Act.…
What really happened to the Teck Frontier oilsands mine? It’s the market, stupid!
So what really happened to the Teck Frontier oilsands mine? Hint: It wasn’t anything Justin Trudeau did or didn’t do. That’s pure United Conservative Party gas lighting, a game a…
Trans Mountain Pipeline court ruling looks like a win for Alberta — as the world drives away in an electric car
You win some, you lose some. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney won one yesterday with the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal to strike down a challenge by a group…
Stephen Harper and Preston Manning, joined at the hip by history and not particularly liking it, make changes
On Wednesday, former prime minister Stephen Harper abruptly quit the Conservative Party of Canada’s fund-raising board, supposedly to give himself time to prevent Jean Charest from becoming leader of Canada’s…
That’s embarrassing! Alberta’s court filing in carbon tax fight says NDP carbon tax did no harm
The linked weekend revelations that the NDP’s carbon tax had no meaningful negative impact on Alberta’s economy and that 40 per cent of Albertans received carbon-tax rebates larger than the…
‘How can we help you bust your union?’ Alberta Government launches ‘employee support program’
The Government of Alberta launched its promised “Employee Labour Relations Support Program” yesterday. Apparently they’ll not only tell you how to certify a union, they’ll tell you how to decertify…
Alberta’s foreign-funded-fossil-fuel defamation inquisition: Stand by for an expensive gong show
Here are three predictions about Jason Kenney’s inquiry into that “foreign-funded defamation campaign” against Alberta’s fossil fuel industry. It will be a gong show It will cost far more than…
B.C. Appeal Court’s Trans Mountain ruling may not be quite the slam-dunk Alberta thinks it is
The unanimous ruling Friday by the British Columbia Court of Appeal that the B.C. Government does not have the constitutional authority to control what goes inside the federally regulated Trans…
The UCP health platform: mostly spin, some two-tier medicine, and scraps of red meat for the base
Jason Kenney’s health care policy announcement yesterday was a typical conservative political speech – a mish-mash of anodyne sentiment, misleading spin, market-fundamentalist nostrums, scraps of red meat for the base,…