The 2020 I·CONnect-Clough Center Global Review of Constitutional Law: Canada Report

Abstract

In March 2020, Canada entered the pandemic with the only national minority government under a Westminster parliamentary system. As the government is heading past the average length of a federal minority government, which is less than two years, it appears that the pandemic has afforded the country an unusual degree of political stability under these circumstances and is helping the government go on with its business largely unconcerned by the threat of a non-confidence vote. A different sort of ‘business as usual’ could also be observed at the Supreme Court. There, the heightened divisiveness between the justices in recent years seems to have continued in the notable constitutional cases of 2020, three of which are discussed in this report. 9147-0732 Quebec inc examined the applicability to corporations of the guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment, and unfolded into an unexpected lengthy debate on the judicial use of international and comparative legal sources. In Re Genetic Non-Discrimination Act, the Court grappled with the important issue of the scope of federal legislative authority over criminal law, but, unfortunately, it did not come to a majority decision. Probably the most constitutionally significant case of the year was G, in which the Court sought to restate the principles governing the use of remedies in the face of unconstitutional laws.