Understanding Canada – serie

Understanding the Charter introduces one of Canada’s most important constitutional documents: the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Designed for readers seeking a foundational understanding of Canadian law, this volume offers a substantial exploration of the Charter’s scope – examining to whom it applies, how it functions, and why it remains a powerful instrument for protecting human rights. It also delves into the debates and controversies that continue to shape the Charter’s role in Canadian law and politics.The book traces the Charter’s origins and the rights protections that preceded it, outlines the interpretive principles Canadian courts use in applying it, and provides a detailed analysis of key provisions. Topics include fundamental freedoms such as religion and conscience, expression, peaceful assembly, and association; democratic and mobility rights; legal protections against unreasonable search and seizure and arbitrary detention; as well as equality and language rights.Understanding the Charter also uncovers how rights can be limited by state actors, how those limits are assessed by the courts, and the remedies that are available when Charter rights have been unreasonably restricted.

Government lawyers occupy a uniquely complex professional position: they are subject simultaneously to the ethics of legal practice and the obligations of public service. Yet these two bodies of law were not designed with each other in mind, and their intersection is frequently fraught. While the norms of lawyering centre on the individual lawyer in private practice, the public service operates within a tiered hierarchy of authority and accountability. When duties as a lawyer and duties as a public servant conflict, what should a government lawyer do?Legal Ethics and Government Lawyers in Canada explores and explains these tensions, situating them within the distinct framework of Canadian constitutional and administrative law. Topics include political activity, federalism and the division of powers, confidentiality and whistleblowing, and under-funding. Special chapters address the distinct ethical obligations facing Crown attorneys and lawyers in the Canadian Armed Forces – two groups with their own particular pressures and professional responsibilities. Andrew Flavelle Martin's rich analysis makes this book a valuable resource for government lawyers, law students, and those seeking to understand the ethical complexities at the intersection of legal practice and public service in Canada.

Examining the complex process behind the federal electoral map, with a particular focus on Quebec, this book explains how each province and territory is allocated its seats in the House of Commons and how electoral boundaries are redrawn every ten years by independent commissions.Quebec's former electoral redistribution commissioner Louis Massicotte brings his expertise in constitutional law and political science to explore the full redistribution process. Chapters detail the entire procedure: the development of a proposal, the subsequent public hearings, the commission's report, and the handling of objections from Members of Parliament. This book offers rigorous academic analysis and practical insight that scholars, legal experts, and political scientists will find invaluable – and is the essential French companion volume to James Bowden's Where to Draw the Line: Readjusting Federal Electoral Boundaries in Canada, together forming a bilingual exploration of electoral democracy in Canada.

Where to Draw the Line covers in great depth the most recent federal electoral readjustment – what Elections Canada calls Redistribution 2022 – and all the steps which the ten Federal Electoral Boundaries Commissions (FEBCs) completed under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act (EBRA) in comparison to all the previous federal electoral redistributions from the 1960s to the 2010s. Political scientist James W.J. Bowden tackles the fundamental tension in electoral boundary-setting, contrasting competing theories of parliamentary representation and examining how boundaries commissions balance the equality of population per riding with the preservation of communities of interest. Bowden elucidates the judicial fallout of Redistribution 2022 in the form of two cases brought before the Federal Court of Canada while also looking ahead and helping readers prepare for the next electoral readjustment in the 2030s. The statistics throughout reveal the central paradox of electoral redistribution in Canada: from the 1960s to the 2020s, the malapportionment of MPs per province increased steadily, while the disproportionality of MPs per person within each province decreased over the same period. Readjusting federal electoral boundaries seems like the preserve of bespectacled technocrats or aggressive pedants rather than the stuff that stirs the passions of a people. But the question of where to draw the line strikes at the heart of how the House of Commons represents Canadians and therefore how Canadians govern themselves.

Representation by Population in the House of Commons covers the history of the methods through which section 51 of the Constitution Act, 1867 has allocated MPs in the House of Commons to the provinces based on their populations. The book also looks at the history of gerrymandering, the origin of independent federal electoral boundaries commissions, and contrasting theories of what political representation means. Electoral politics expert James W.J. Bowden approaches the topic systematically, measuring the malapportionment of each decade from the 1860s to the 2020s using the Loosemore-Hanby Index, rating each of the seven representation formulas under section 51 accordingly, and suggesting how Parliament could amend this formula to lower the malapportionment of MPs per province. While Parliament could lower malapportionment on its own, only a constitutional amendment under the unanimous procedure could eliminate it entirely. Consequently, Ontarians, Albertans, and British Columbians will continue to count for less than Canadians in the other seven provinces. Bowden shows that achieving agreement on the nature of representation has proved impossible for Canadians, who must now muddle through malapportionment and disproportionality, continuously tinkering with incremental changes at the margins while avoiding radical reforms. This book provides essential context for understanding the past, present, and future of representation in the House of Commons.

How can Canada ensure it is not overlooked or taken for granted by the United States? That, in fact, Canada’s success is a central element of America’s success? This is the never-ending Canadian dilemma in Canadian-American relations. This book provides a brief comparative analysis of the Canada-United States relationship, including its political, economic, cultural, and international relations dimensions. To this end, it explores the comparative history and political cultures of the two countries; the institutions of their respective political systems; elections, political parties and voting; regionalism; public policies; and issues in Canadian-American relations. Across these many dimensions of comparison, it is clear that Canada and the United States are the same, only different.

Canada's notwithstanding clause is a constitutional provision, under section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, that allows provincial, territorial, and federal legislatures to temporarily override certain Charter rights for up to five years.The Notwithstanding Clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms examines the notwithstanding clause at a pivotal moment in Canadian history, highlighting how it is increasingly used by governments to suspend constitutional rights. In response, individuals and advocacy groups have increasingly turned to the courts, challenging its application and seeking judicial intervention to limit its use under the Charter. With the Supreme Court of Canada poised to rule on the notwithstanding clause for the first time since 1988, this issue is set to remain a focal point of legal and political debate. This book provides a comprehensive exploration of the clause's history, design, political uses, and the judicial and academic responses. It provides the foundational context of section 33, offering readers an in-depth understanding of this uniquely Canadian provision, which has sparked controversy for over four decades.

This book seeks to demystify carbon pricing in Canada while exploring its potential for global expansion. Written in French, La tarification du carbone au Canada et au-delà des frontières (Carbon pricing in Canada and beyond) offers a comprehensive analysis of the literature surrounding various aspects of carbon pricing. Key topics include the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on global warming, the advantages and disadvantages of carbon pricing as a policy tool for reducing emissions, the history and fundamental principles of Canada’s pan-Canadian carbon pricing approach, the operation of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, and the constitutional challenges it faces. The book also examines the limitations of carbon pricing in effectively reducing global emissions and proposes potential solutions. By emphasizing the need for international coordination, it argues that the global expansion of carbon pricing is essential for achieving significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.La taxe carbone : un sujet brûlant qui divise le Canada. Entre tensions politiques et préoccupations environnementales, ce débat révèle les complexités de la lutte contre le changement climatique. Découvrez les acteurs clés et les enjeux cruciaux qui façonnent cette politique controversée. Une plongée captivante au cœur des décisions qui façonneront l’avenir écologique du pays et du monde.Parmi les politiques publiques qui visent à réduire les émissions des gaz à effet de serre (GES), la tarification du carbone se démarque comme étant une approche particulièrement efficace en raison des principes économiques qui la supportent. Au Canada, le gouvernement fédéral possède une approche unique en la matière. L’approche pancanadienne à la tarification du carbone offre un exemple de coopération interprovinciale et interterritoriale qui est particulièrement inspirante lorsqu’on réfléchit à l’expansion de la tarification du carbone dans le monde. En effet, pour qu’elle puisse tenir ses promesses de réduction des émissions de GES, la tarification du carbone doit se développer à l’échelle mondiale. Cet ouvrage décrit l’approche pancanadienne à la tarification du carbone, où la collaboration entre le gouvernement fédéral et les provinces et territoires a donné naissance à une approche dynamique et coopérative. Ensuite, l’idée d’une coordination internationale sur la tarification du carbone est explorée.

In federal systems, the constitution protects all the issues that enable the federal structure to maintain a sustainable and lasting equilibrium between the centre and the periphery. These issues include the allocation of legislative powers, the structure of institutions, the autonomy of federated and federal entities, the settlement of disputes between them, and so on. Since these matters are enshrined in the constitution, amending its text is of fundamental importance in any federal system. Fédéralisme comparé et modification constitutionnelle offers a comparative study of the constitutional amendment procedure in ten federal systems, with the aim of contextualizing the Canadian process. This book examines the federal systems of Canada as well as Australia, Austria, Belgium, the European Union, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. To systematically compare these ten processes, the book investigates constitutional amendment procedures at various stages, ultimately suggesting the creation of an index for better analysis and comparison.