Canadian Gov't Urged to Use Override Power Against Activist Judges
by Chad Groening
February 10, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Canadian pro-family activist says he is concerned that any effort to reinstate the traditional definition of marriage in his country will run into a Liberal court roadblock. When the Conservatives won last month's elections in Canada, pro-family activists there were excited about the possibility of revoking the law that made same-sex "marriage" legal across their nation last year. However, Brian Rushfeldt of the Canada Family Action Coalition (CFAC) is worried that any legislative efforts to reverse that law could be struck down by the nation's ultra-liberal courts.
Rushfeldt has been pushing for a citizens' referendum on same-sex marriage ever since the Conservative victory in last month's elections. He maintains that a vast majority of Canadians oppose same-sex marriage, and want to see its legalization overturned.
But that may not happen, the pro-family leader points out, if many of the nation's left-leaning jurists have their way. "For 25 years now," he says, "Liberal judges have been appointed to the courts. They are now becoming activist enough to overrule the people over and over again."
A great danger exists, Rushfeldt asserts, that "even if we held a referendum and it was won by 70 percent of the people saying that they want heterosexual or 'one man-one woman' marriage, some court could come along and say 'Sorry, that's not the way it's going to be.'"
That is why the activist feels the new Conservative administration needs to be prepared to use a particular feature of the Constitution of Canada to stop any judicial activism from contravening both the will of the people and the efforts of government leaders. He refers to Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a section commonly known as the "notwithstanding clause," which allows Parliament or provincial legislatures to override certain portions of the Charter.
Rushfeldt believes Liberal activist judges will try to keep same-sex marriage legal in Canada, despite any measures enacted to overturn it. "The only way to stop that is to use the notwithstanding clause," he says, "and I do think that a Conservative government certainly is much more likely to use that clause to stop the court activism."
CFAC's executive director says judicial activism is far worse in Canada even than it is in the United States. However, he notes that the framers of the Charter did include in that governing document provisions designed to combat the problem of runaway jurists bent on pushing their own beliefs and values on the populace.
"There certainly is a tool that was put into the Constitution," Rushfeldt says. "In fact, Mr. Martin, our ex-prime minister, wanted actually to take that notwithstanding clause out of the Charter, because that is the tool that will override bad court decisions."
Rushfeldt hopes the new government will not hesitate to use everything in its legislative and Constitutional arsenal to keep activist judges from ignoring the will of the people regarding same-sex marriage.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
