Mr. Speaker, the notwithstanding clause was the condition without which the provinces would never have signed the 1982 Constitution. For Quebec, who never signed the Constitution, the provision remained too weak a safeguard against the federal government's desire to subject Quebeckers to a centralized Canadian authority.
Today, that same weak safeguard is too much for Ottawa. The Liberals want to weaken the notwithstanding clause to the point of being meaningless. This is not a legal battle unfolding at the Supreme Court. This is a political battle against Quebec.
Will Ottawa back off?