Commentary
Canada has experienced unity challenges since the 1980s. Secessionism has flared and faded in Quebec and the West several times. But the country has never seen independence movements garnering support so sharply in multiple regions as we are right now. The Parti Québécois is surging in support in Quebec and well poised to win this fall’s election. In Alberta, a referendum on independence is looking likely to be held on Oct. 19, and Saskatchewan has been seeing groups promoting secession grow and organize.
Rather than trying to address the issues at the root of growing national disunity, however, the federal government is pouring gasoline onto the fire by trying to defang the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The government is an intervener in the English Montreal School Board v. Attorney General of Quebec case, which is currently before the Supreme Court of Canada, and is arguing that courts should be allowed to issue non-binding declarations on Charter violations….