When Justin Trudeau announced his vague plan to resign as both prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party after something resembling a “robust” leadership race had occurred, the real insult to Canada and Canadian democracy was his announcement that he had prorogued, or suspended, Parliament. In a broadcast I had urged people to contact the governor general’s office and state their concerns that prorogation was not an appropriate option for Trudeau and that she should at least consider exercising her Constitutional authority to say no. That apparently was an utter waste of time because Mary Simon spent perhaps five minutes in consideration of Trudeau’s request and promptly acceded to it. That decision ensured that Parliament would not resume until March 24, meaning there was no chance of the Opposition parties bringing down this corrupt, inept and invasive government that had no real plan to counter President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of a massive 25 percent tariff on all Canadian exports to the United States.
So ultimately, they found that all of that meant that the Parliament had been unlawfully prorogued.
-James Manson with JCCF
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) may have found a way out of this legislative dead-end by taking up a Supreme Court challenge to prorogation initiated by David MacKinnon and Aris Lavranos of Nova Scotia. Leading that charge is JCCF attorney James Manson who spoke with me Monday about why he thinks there is a viable chance of having the court intervene against Trudeau’s dismissal of Parliament and how it could produce a non-confidence vote and spring election that would certainly bring the end of the Trudeau regime.
The precedent for that intervention occurred in Great Britain during the administration of Prime Minister Boris Johnson who attempted to shut down Parliament while the UK grappled with the decision to embrace Brexit.
“The UK Supreme Court found that because Prime Minister Johnson shut down Parliament for five of those eight weeks, Parliament couldn't do its job, and particularly at a very, very difficult period of time in the UK. So ultimately, they found that all of that meant that the Parliament had been unlawfully prorogued. And ultimately, they found that Parliament had never been prorogued. What the Court said was, ‘Look, you know, the prime minister's advice to the Queen was unlawful, and it basically was a nullity, meaning that it had never happened, and therefore Parliament had never been prorogued. And therefore, Parliament could go back to work the same or, I guess it was the following day. So in the UK, Parliament resumed sitting right away,” Manson said.
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Manson explained that the lawsuit seeks to define what are the limits of a prime minister’s power to prorogue Parliament “because there must be some limits. Naturally, I think everybody would agree that a prime minister can't just prorogue Parliament forever. So that means there must be some limits. Well, what are those limits?” the lawyer asked, noting that it’s a question that has not yet been answered in Canada but should be not only given the current political context but for the benefit of all future prime ministers who need to understand “exactly how far they can go to use this extraordinary tool called prorogation.”
Manson suggested that the pressure should not be on the governor general because “the prime minister has become the person who wields all the power. We don't really have a governor general who's got any real particular power in this case. And I don't think we want that. I don't think we want to have a governor general that can stop for a minute, think about things and then say, ‘You know what? No, I'm not going to do it.’”
“Naturally, I think everybody would agree that a prime minister can't just prorogue Parliament forever. So that means there must be some limits. Well, what are those limits?”
But he emphasized that Canadians need to stay focused on why prorogation in this instance should be deemed unconstitutional and potentially catastrophic “Every day that goes by, Parliament cannot do its job. And of course, we still haven't mentioned the incoming economic threat from President-elect Donald Trump. That is a big deal. That is a serious deal. Now we don't know, of course, whether President elect Trump will actually impose a tariff, but all signs point to yes,” Manson said, noting that this is an ominous backdrop against which Parliament has been removed from the decision-making nexus.
“They can't they can't do anything right now to support the government to pass any new legislation, to ratify an agreement that might be become necessary to ratify all these types of things, including simply standing up and asking questions on behalf of Canadians to the ministers who are apparently now running around it in in the In the States,” Manson noted. Trudeau and his ministers can’t even stay on the same page, with the prime minister talking about putting tariffs on bourbon and playing cards and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly completely speaking out of hand about putting tariffs on oil and gas – a decision that would probably be ultra vires because under the Canadian Constitution energy is a provincial jurisdiction.
“So long, long answer to your question, do I think we can win? Yes, I do think we can win, because I think, in our view, the reasons given by the prime minister don't add up to a reasonable justification, and that violates the test laid out by the Supreme Court of the UK,” Manson said, adding that the issue ultimately comes back to the executive branch of the federal government ruling by decree and through authoritarians means.
“Our Constitution must prevail. The constitutional order that we've got must prevail. Parliament must be able to do its job, and they might make a hash of it … It has to work, because if it doesn't work, if the prime minister can simply shut down Parliament whenever he or she wants for whatever reason, then we are in a situation where the executive has absolute power to do whatever it wants, that cannot be acceptable in our country.”
“Yes, I do think we can win, because I think, in our view, the reasons given by the prime minister don't add up to a reasonable justification, and that violates the test laid out by the Supreme Court of the UK.”
As to whether Trudeau could decide to prorogue Parliament again when the House resumes sitting in late March in order to avoid a non-confidence vote, Manson said that might prove impossible because “everybody realizes that the government runs out of money at the end of March. Therefore there must be a money bill laid before Parliament … Every time there's a money Bill involved that is automatically a confidence piece of legislation. So the vote on that particular legislation is treated as a confidence motion, essentially. So if that bill fails, then the government is basically obligated to resign.
So despite Trudeau’s best attempt to escape justice for himself and his Liberal Party, it is looking increasingly like he will be unable to do so.
WATCH What YOU Need to Know: Justice Centre's Court Challenge Against Trudeau | Stand on Guard (FULL Int)
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Same speach his father gave and same game plan... Lock-step