Robert Libman: So much for Poilievre’s championing of ‘freedom’

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s mantra has always been “freedom.” He says that he wants to be prime minister in order to put Canadians back in control of their lives and make Canada the “freest” country on Earth. He has spoken of government overreach during the pandemic, and of too much government meddling everywhere else, promising to fix it with more freedom.

Freedom. Freedom. Freedom. Sounds inspiring. Yet this week, Poilievre’s actions contradicted his mantra in a big way. He sided with the Bloc Québécois, whose raison d’être is the breakup of Canada, voting in favour of their provocative motion supporting the right of provinces to pre-emptively use the notwithstanding clause.

The notwithstanding clause is part of the Constitution and gives governments licence to pass laws that may override certain fundamental Charter rights and freedoms. It is meant to be used as a last resort after a law is argued before the courts and struck down. Its pre-emptive use, however, not only allows governments to pass laws that obviously trump individual freedoms, but denies citizens objecting to those freedom violations any recourse in the courts.