Dear Conservative Premiers: The Charter Isn't Up For Shredding

 So the 5 conservative premiers have sent a letter to Carney demanding that the Attorney General of Canada (AGC) withdraw its filing with the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) regarding the application of The Notwithstanding Clause (S33) in The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (The Charter).  

To me, this looks like a desperation maneuver on the part of the premiers: 

What this tells us is that premiers like Alberta's Danielle Smith already know that their intentions for the use of S33 are in fact intended to erase rights entirely, and if the SCC were to adopt even partially the AGC's position, their use of S33 would come to a screeching halt. 

It is not lost on me that it is conservative premiers who are making this argument - because collectively, conservative legislators have been looking for a way to undermine The Charter for years.  Once Ontario started using it to buttress back to work legislation, they started the process of a slow boil - get people used to the idea of S33 being used on issues with relatively minor impact on them, and by the time that they start using it to erase The Charter as Danielle Smith in Alberta is trying to do using Transgender people as a target, it will be "too late" and The Charter is rendered moot. 

I explore the filings in more depth in another post.  However, the tactic of sending a letter to the Prime Minister tells us a couple of things:  

First, it's a tacit admission on the part of the premiers that their own arguments do not address the issues raised in the AGC's filing.  They can argue indefinitely about "the agreement that allowed The Charter to come into being", and the importance of Parliamentary Sovereignty, but that doesn't address the problems that the AGC's position raises (and solves). They have been outmaneuvered and they're admitting it. 

Second, their argument that this "violates the agreement around The Charter" ignores the implicit fact that the same agreement presupposed that the legislatures would act prudently with regards to S33 and not use it as a weapon against the people of Canada.  

It is this latter point which is more significant - Scott Moe and Danielle Smith wish to use S33 to extinguish the rights and validity of Transgender Canadians in their provinces.  Unlike Ontario's use of S33 to save back to work legislation from court challenges, where the situation around that legislation is clearly temporary and naturally resolves itself in time, the legislative use of S33 in Saskatchewan and Alberta addresses issues that are not temporary, and the laws themselves are intended to stand not just for 5 years, but indefinitely. That is a far different use of S33, and one without legitimate legal or cultural justification to support it. 

[Update:  Oct 8, 2025]:  The federal government just told the premiers to go pound sand.