Ontario Premier Doug Ford took aim at the federal government and judicial “overreach” Thursday over a move to have the Supreme Court of Canada weigh in on provincial overuse of the notwithstanding clause.
“That is way overreach,” Ford told reporters, referring both to the court and the federal government.
He added that federal and provincial parliaments should be “supreme, meaning people are supreme, not judges ruling on stuff that shouldn’t even be in front of the courts.”
Ford also took aim at Prime Minister Mark Carney and said the other premiers are also angry about the move.
“It’s not just this premier, it’s premiers across the country are on fire,” Ford said. “This is the worst decision Prime Minister Carney has ever done, and it will be an absolute disaster.”
Ford made the remarks during an unrelated news conference where he promised to ban speed cameras.
His comments come after Carney‘s Liberal government last week filed a factum — a written statement of fact and law — asking the Supreme Court of Canada to set limits on how the notwithstanding clause can be invoked. The government argued that provincial overuse of the notwithstanding clause amounts to “indirectly amending the Constitution.”
The factum was filed as part of a case on Quebec’s Bill 21, known as the secularism law, which prohibits public sector workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols while at work.
The notwithstanding clause allows provincial governments to pass legislation that may conflict with charter rights. Conventionally it has been used sparingly. But in recent years, provincial governments have used the clause more freely.
Ford has used or threatened to use the notwithstanding clause multiple times in order to push through his government’s agenda, despite charter concerns. His government used the clause to push through a law limiting third party election advertising in 2021. It also threatened to use it when it unilaterally shrunk the size of Toronto City Council in 2018, and when it moved to block a teacher’s strike in 2022.
In his news conference, Ford said that Carney is “wasting his time” with the move and predicted it will never work.
He also took aim at Canada’s attorney general, Sean Fraser, saying he should be focused instead on bail reform.
In a statement last week, Fraser called the charter “a pillar of our democracy” and a guarantee of the rights “at the heart of our democratic society.”
“This case is about more than the immediate issues before the Court. The Supreme Court’s decision will shape how both federal and provincial governments may use the notwithstanding clause for years to come,” Fraser said.
With files from The Canadian Press