Overview

• Premiers of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia sent a letter Tuesday urging the federal government to retract its Supreme Court submission.
• Ottawa’s filing in the Bill 21 appeal asks the court to let judges declare Charter violations even when Section 33 is invoked and to create review for prolonged or repeated use.
• The federal argument says the clause’s temporary character cannot be used to cause an irreparable impairment of rights and that courts must retain jurisdiction to assess limits.
• Quebec’s 2019 secularism law is the test case before the Supreme Court, with most factums filed and a hearing date not yet set.
• Conservative leaders denounced Ottawa’s position as undermining provincial sovereignty and national unity, with Ontario’s Doug Ford calling it the prime minister’s worst decision.