The ticking bomb under Canada’s constitution
The obscure-sounding “notwithstanding clause” is actually rather dangerous
In November Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, got into a brawl. The trade union representing 55,000 janitors, teachers’ assistants and other support staff in schools wanted an above-inflation pay rise of 11.7%. Mr Ford’s government passed a law to impose a settlement of just 2.5% on the provincial government’s lowest-paid workers. Anyone who walked off the job would be fined C$4,000 ($3,000) a day.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “A bomb lodged in the constitution”
From the December 10th 2022 edition
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