A Typical Canadian Constitutional Story : The Mechanization of the Notwithstanding Clause as a Tool for Decentralization
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Political Science, Department of
data provider: DSpace
creator: Salamatian, Siavash
issued: 2024-05-22T22:37:50Z
issued: 2024-04-22
description: The individual rights override provision (the notwithstanding clause) included in the 1982, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had traditionally been viewed as a mechanism that outside of Quebec was too politically costly to use. This understanding of the clause has rapidly shifted in recent years with provincial leaders having musings about a more frequent use of the clause. This paper employs a mixed-methods approach in its study. I first measured public opinion since 1988 on who Canadians believe should adjudicate Charter disputes. I then employ an original theoretical table to compare the discourse of the drafters of the 1982 Constitution with the current provincial leaders who have used the clause to track changes on how permissive elites believe a use of the notwithstanding clause should be and for what uses it can be invoked. Finally, to empirically test whether a ‘federalism’ use of the clause is actually reflected in public opinion, I identified several invocations of the clause and tested provincial sentiments towards those particular issues in comparison to the national values. Ultimately, I find that there is increasing trust in the provinces over the federal government; elite discourse suggests that there is now a more permissive understanding of using the clause for federalism purposes; and when the clause is invoked there is a difference in preferences between that province and the rest of Canada. However, the findings of the last theory may not be entirely due to provincial differences. The key contribution of this research is to look at the notwithstanding clause as a mechanism that is being used to express provincial differences in the federation, rather than solely a political choice to avoid accountability.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/88348
note: A Typical Canadian Constitutional Story:The Mechanization of the Notwithstanding Clause as a Tool for DecentralizationSiavash SalamatianPOLI 492: Honours ThesisThe University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Political ScienceCo-Supervisors:Dr. Gerald Baier & Dr. Lisa SundstromApril, 22, 20242Political authority will, at some point, be exercised oppressively-Professor John D. Whyte, On Not Standing for Notwithstanding, 19903AcknowledgementsThis research, which concludes my undergraduate time at UBC, is a result of the help and supportof many people over the years. Firstly, a big thank you to Dr. Sundstrom for facilitating the honoursseminar this year. Under her guidance, the seminar not only helped me in conducting this research, but italso connected me to T.A.s and Ph.D. candidates that provided insightful feedback in sharpening thearguments. Most importantly, the seminar allowed me to learn from my classmates who I am sure havebright futures ahead.I’d like to also thank Dr. Baier for his guidance over the past year. He always had a readingavailable to address any issues I brought up, and was generous enough to lend me his own copies toconduct my own analysis. His knowledge on the topics of judicial politics is impressive, and I hope to oneday have this level of expertise on a subject matter.To the entire UBC political science community. Thank you for making the past 4 years somemorable. From the professors who have inspired me and given me career advice, to fellow studentswho challenged my writing so as to make it better, my UBC experience would not be the same withoutyou.To my friends, thank you for always listening to me, even while I pestered you with my progresson this thesis. And, a special shoutout to Eduardo: very glad, but also tired in having submitted this thesis(at all stages) with you!Finally, I would be remiss to not thank my family. I realize that everything I do is in the shadowof all those who came before me and have inspired me. It is especially tr…
has type: Graduating Project
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0443577
language: eng
peer review status: Unreviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Undergraduate
is part of: University of British Columbia. POLI 492
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88348