This article originally appeared in the National Post. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Ted Morton, March 23, 2026
There is an important constitutional conference going on in Ottawa this week. Haven’t heard about it? Don’t feel badly. Neither have most provincial governments who stand to lose one of the most important powers they acquired with the adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982.
The provincial premiers have not been invited. There is none of the pomp and circumstance and media coverage that normally accompany constitutional conventions. No, this will all take place very quietly in the chambers of the Supreme Court, where the Mark Carney Liberals are asking the Supreme Court to effectively amend the Charter by imposing new restrictions on how provincial governments can use their Section 33 notwithstanding power.
The occasion is an appeal from Quebec dealing with Bill 21, which prevents some civil servants, most notably teachers, from wearing religious symbols at work. Bill 21 also includes the use of Section 33 of the Charter, which states that a law “shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of this Charter.”
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F.L. (Ted) Morton is an Executive Fellow at the School of Public Policy and professor emeritus at the University of Calgary. His book, The Charter Revolution and the Court Party, won a Donner Foundation book prize in 2002.
