Mr. Speaker, the disallowance issues raised by the hon. member continue to be of neither practical nor widespread concern. It is my understanding that following Confederation, statutes of the provinces were originally considered for disallowance if they were either unwise or unjust, although the laws were rarely disallowed on that basis.
If they were unconstitutional, and this was the most common ground for disallowance, it was often combined with other grounds such as clashing with current federal legislation or affecting the interests of the Dominion generally.
Historically, laws might also be disallowed if they conflicted with imperial treaties or policy. Despite this broad overview, scholars have suggested that it is not possible to define clearly the principles that were applied in disallowing legislation after Confederation.
Despite the arguments of the hon. member, there would be no purpose served in debating such principles hypothetically for modern times, considering that the power has not been exercised at all for more than 60 years.