Occasionally, governments introduce legislation that gets things wrong. That certainly is the case for the Liberal Government’s Bill C-9: The Combatting Hate Act. Every aspect of it is flawed.This is a special concern because it is a bill that restricts free expressive rights. Expressive freedom is never without limits, but our courts have been very clear that any restrictions must minimally impair our fundamental democratic freedoms.
CFE Intervener Factum in the Supreme Court of Canada - In this factum, CFE submits that citizens’ access — and particularly, public interest litigants’ access — to judicial review remedies is a fundamental feature of the democratic dialogue in Canada. Absent a robust remedial comparison, judicial review applicants are at risk of being rerouted to inadequate alternative processes, including political processes with which they cannot meaningfully engage.
BY DAVID HUTTON - The Liberals need to put in place a system that truly protects whistleblowers and the Canadian public. Perhaps then we can begin to restore our national image and rejoin the ranks of truly clean and well-governed democracies.
