Supreme Court, MPs make mincemeat of Constitution and Democracy

Vincent J. Curtis

14 April 2016

The assisted dying business is now tearing at the heart of Canada’s constitutional order and democracy.

This matter began when the Supreme Court of Canada directed the government to pass legislation to tidy up a legal mess it created.  Now it is proposed that the Bill put before the House of Commons tidying up that mess be put before the Supreme Court for its approval.

A submission like this was deemed “both smart and compassionate”  by Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, who co-chaired the special joint Parliamentary committee on “assisted dying.”

It’s going to save some private person the money of challenging the law before the Supreme Court.

So, this is what Canadian democracy has come down to: five of nine ermined judges now have the authority to direct the government to pass legislation, and the people’s elected representatives jump to attention and ask whether they’ve jumped high enough for the satisfaction of the court.

To me, the merits of the legislation are deplorable, but even if you're hot for assisted suicide, the way in which this business has proceeded lays down disturbing markers for future challenges to the democratic order.  This whole assisted dying mess undermines democratic order, and moves Canada towards a constitutional crisis.

Consider that a perfectly valid manner for Parliament to have proceeded against this challenge to Parliamentary supremacy was to pass a law voiding the Supreme Court’s decision, and to have stripped the Supreme Court from having jurisdiction in the matter in future.

Such an assertion of the power of Parliament would have gotten the entire commentariat atwitter; condemnations and worrisome noises would have filled the airwaves.  But such an assertion of Parliamentary authority would have made clear that it’s the people’s representatives who run the country, and who doesn’t.

Instead, seeing nothing larger than the politics of a particular issue, our Parliamentarians submit to the order of the Supreme Court.  This is not healthy for democracy in Canada.

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