Carney's attack on the Charter, a great podcast, tragedy in court and more Kimmel...

Why is Mark Carney risking national unity with his Charter gambit.

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You may have been hearing about the attempt by the Carney government to limit the use of the notwithstanding clause. I am writing about this here in the Toronto Sun and explaining why Doug Ford is right to be annoyed at Carney - as are the governments of Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia etc.

There are so many interesting angles to this case and what the Supreme Court might do.

Over at the Globe and Mail both Andrew Coyne and Konrad Yakabuski think Carney isn’t doing much. Coyne goes on a rant about conservatives having a melt down that the Charter even exists. Yakabuski’s arguments are interesting, Coyne is off base, but I repeat myself.

At National Post, Josh Dehaas, counsel with the Canadian Constitution Foundation says that Carney is playing with fire and national unity. And at TVO John Michael McGrath says the case is asking interesting questions.

If we had a normal, properly functioning court then I wouldn’t be bothered aboutt he questions this case is raising and the Carney government’s clear attempt to use the court to limit the use of the notwithstanding clause.

Sadly, we don’t have a normally functioning court and while I have very smart friends, including some who are lawyers, who tell me the court can’t change anything, I have my doubts. This is a court that seems to believe they can invent their own reality, that precedent doesn’t apply to their rulings, that the words of the Charter and constitution mean whatever the judges feel it means that day.

In this current court, there is a very good chance that they will use the instance of the federal government inviting the judges to limit the use of Section 33 to completely rewrite, reinterpret that section of the constitution.

If that happens, and I fear it will, then yes, national unity will be at stake.

Another thing that will happen if this comes to pass is the further politicization of our Supreme Court. Plenty of Canadians think our court system isn’t political, not like the Americans, but I’d argue that’s not quite true.

If the court rules to give itself more power, then in coming years we will see elections fought over court appointments, much like we see in the United States.

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A great podcast episode coming up…

On Friday morning I had the chance to spend an hour talking to two experts in urban warfare - Richard Kemp and John Spencer. Both of these gentlemen agreed to join me on the Full Comment Podcast episode that will be released on Monday.

I found the conversation fascinating as we discussed the realities of the war between Israel and Hamas, the difficulty of urban warfare and the lengths that Israel goes to in order to try and avoid civilian casualties.

The episode will be released Monday morning where ever you listen to podcasts.

Tragedy due to fake compassion…

My Sun colleague Michele Mandel is following the ongoing court case of those charged in the death of Karolina Huebner-Makurat two years ago. It was July 2023 when Huebner-Makurat, a 44 year-old wife and mother of two, was shot and killed by a stray bullet as she walked down the street to meet a friend for lunch.

Drug dealers had set-up shop in a small park across the street next to a so-called “safe injection site.” The South Riverdale Community Health Centre also was chosen by the Trudeau government to be a site for their so-called “safe-supply” program where addicts were given free prescription opioid pills.

Those pills would be given to addicts who would then sell them to drug dealers in exchange for cash or more powerful fentanyl.

It was a turf war over this sick trade that took the life of Huebner-Makurat.

According to the agreed statement, the now-closed ‘safe-injection site’ created a market for drug dealers, who would sell primarily fentanyl.

They’d do business in the courtyard next door – and it’s there that Ibrahim seems to have first encountered the man in the white shirt, who police allege is Damian Hudson.

Those who followed the issue knew this sort of thing was happening at this location and others like it across the province and country. The activists who held sway convinced the government and the media that wasn’t the case and that these sites were really acts of compassion.

Thankfully, Premier Doug Ford scrapped these sites, he’s moving forward on a plan for dealing with opioid addiction that focuses on treatment and not aiding and abetting the addiction.

Kimmel is back on Sinclair, Google censorship still ignored…

Sinclair Broadcasting is bringing back Jimmy Kimmel’s show, not that it will help his horrible ratings. The broadcast giant owns more than 30 ABC affiliates and hasn’t aired his show since just after his comments blaming MAGA for Charlie Kirk’s murder.

ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel’s show was seen as censorship by the Trump administration.

Kirk had been a close ally of President Donald Trump and many in the Trump administration were critical of Kimmel and his comments. As I’ve argued from the start, this was more about the anger of the American public expressed to their local ABC stations and upward to the network.

Also, Kimmel is back on air, he faced a suspension for saying something stupid, a move that has happened to many broadcasters over the years including me.

Meanwhile, still very little attention paid to the Google and YouTube censorship story. The company has admitted, just like Twitter and Facebook before them, that they shut down accounts over political complaints from the Biden administration.

In reality, which of these two is the bigger threat to free speech? The one being comparatively ignored by most of the media.

Make sure you contact your MP using this link to tell them to stop the tax hike!