Tag Archives: Stephen Harper

Appointment Ironies

Originally published on October 5, 2015 in Policy Options as part of a series entitled “Stephen Harper and the Judiciary.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s appointment of seven of the Supreme Court’s nine judges has done his government little good. The high profile clashes between the “Harper Court” and the Harper government are the stuff of legend. But not to worry, the real action has reportedly occurred behind the scenes with the appointment of lower court judges.Roughly three-quarters of federally appointed trial and appeal court judges owe their positions to Harper’s government, and they might promote his conservative agenda in ways that the Supreme Court has not. These lower court appointments, we are told, “are Mr. Harper’s enduring legacy.” Continue reading →

Justin Trudeau’s use of Charter hyperbole

Now that Justin Trudeau is Canada’s prime minister, it might be worth revisiting his previous Charter-based critique of Stephen Harper. The op-ed below appeared in the National Post on April 17, 2012; it  is based on a more extended piece — Charter Hyperbole: the New Politics of Heresy — in the c2c Journal.

In 1982, Pierre Trudeau realized his dream of a constitutionally entrenched Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Thirty years later, Trudeau’s son Justin, Liberal MP for Papineau, excoriated Stephen Harper for turning his back on major policies wrought by Charter politics. If Harper had his way, Justin suggested, Canada would be “going against” abortion and same-sex marriage. Fortunately, the real Canada, the Canada defined in part by these policies, had thus far resisted Harper’s reactionary plans. “If I believed that Canada was really the Canada of Stephen Harper,” Justin declared, “I would think of wanting to make Quebec a country.” Continue reading →