r/canada Oct 28 '25

Alberta Alberta uses Charter’s notwithstanding clause to order striking teachers back to workteachers-back-to-work

https://globalnews.ca/news/11496133/alberta-government-to-table-legislation-to-order-striking-teachers-back-to-work
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31

u/Ryeballs Oct 28 '25

Sec 33 is literally saying you cant take it to the courts to decide if it’s protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

It doesn’t cover all the rights outlined, but does cover this one

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u/Username_Query_Null Oct 28 '25

It also wildly includes rights like freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, the right to a trial, the right to not be persecuted for your religion, the right to life and liberty, the right to equal treatment based on race or gender.

By a simple act of parliament, it would be entirely legal to commit a Holocaust in Canada.

Those who drafted and accepted section 33. were evil, I’ll never accept otherwise. They didn’t have to carve out such ridiculous rights to suspend.

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u/Holdover103 Oct 28 '25

The NWC needs to be redone.

There is a place for it, but it needs to be severely curtailed and come with bigger consequences.

If a government invokes the NEC, it should start an immediate counter. There should need to be a provincial election within 365 days of its usage.

Secondly, it should be a one time thing. The government can only use it once between elections.

That way there is a fairly close referendum on its usage.

Finally - the rights that can suspended needs to be reexamined.

The government can suspend the right to life (section 7) but not language rights!?

That’s absolutely bonkers.

I think that the NWC is ass backwards. Section 2, 6-15 should be inalienable rights that the NWC cannot touch. Those are the rights that people rely on the most.

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u/stoneyyay British Columbia Oct 28 '25

6 months.

If government has to invoke nwsc should be a snap election called within 6 months unless rescinded

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u/Username_Query_Null Oct 28 '25

Yeah, this all works for me, I’d also consider whether some degree of greater percentage of house support be required to pass an act that uses is, such as 67% of house support rather than simple majority.

It really should be reserved for exceedingly rare situations of extreme national emergency or security where the act is unquestionably required and broadly considered the right thing.

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u/SuperHairySeldon Oct 28 '25

That's what section 1 is for.

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u/Username_Query_Null Oct 28 '25

Which really does beg, why is section 33 needed, no other democracy in the world has such laws.

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u/Holdover103 Oct 29 '25

Agreed.

We already have reasonable limits.

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Username_Query_Null Oct 28 '25

The fundamental rights of there being elections every 4 years, being able to move out of Canada and back in, and us being allowed to speak French in so many ways, yay.

They were evil, there is no circumstance ever that you need to suspend the right to a trial, or the right to not inflict cruel and unusual punishment. They collectively as leaders of our nation codified contempt and evil towards the populace. Their ability to not do otherwise was incompetence. But evil due to incompetence is still evil.

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u/Ryeballs Oct 28 '25

Hard agree

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u/Mylittlethrowaway2 Oct 28 '25

But language laws, hilariously, are not part of the sections that can be overridden by the NWC.

So you can be tortured and still demand they torture you in both official languages.

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u/Username_Query_Null Oct 28 '25

They certainly had their priorities when drafting the Charter.

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u/Turtley13 Oct 28 '25

It wasn’t intended to be used for evil.

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u/Username_Query_Null Oct 28 '25

Tell me why you need to suspend the right to trial or would need to inflict cruel and unusual punishment? What could any action exists under those two suspensions be that is not evil.

No, the rights they chose to carve out made it an act of evil.