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The Constitution says that the SCoC is the highest court of the land.
The SCoC, along with courts in seven of ten provinces, say that prohibiting gay marriage is unconstitutional.
You could have 205 MPs say gay marriage is against the New Law, or you could have 205 million Canadians say the same thing (if you waited a while for there to be that many Canadians) but the Court backed by the Constitution still says otherwise, and it is trump. Call it the ace of spades and spades are bid, if you will.
The only thing you could do, democratically, legally, and with any hope of surviving a single government, is pass an amendment where seven of ten provinces representing 50%+ of the population agree that marriage is restricted to man and woman. Good luck with that.
Or, you could hold your breath for a very long time and hope that social reactionaries will hold majority power for long enough to replace most of the court. I bet you go beyond turning blue waiting for that to happen. I doubt Harper could live long enough to appoint a majority of jurists who would reverse course, even if he lived to 110 as sitting PM. Remember, people who think as I do would be among the candidates the Tories would choose from.
Or, you could hope that Harper would be stupid enough to use the notwithstanding clause. That would last for a few years until it needed to be renewed or it lapses. In the meantime the Conservatives would be wiped out in most every major urban centre in the country and their replacements would most likely repeal any bill that is so offensive rather than let it run its course to lapsing.
Realism is a good thing, Ben. One should realise when they are licked. Move on to other issues that actually matter.
The SCoC, along with courts in seven of ten provinces, say that prohibiting gay marriage is unconstitutional.
You could have 205 MPs say gay marriage is against the New Law, or you could have 205 million Canadians say the same thing (if you waited a while for there to be that many Canadians) but the Court backed by the Constitution still says otherwise, and it is trump. Call it the ace of spades and spades are bid, if you will.
The only thing you could do, democratically, legally, and with any hope of surviving a single government, is pass an amendment where seven of ten provinces representing 50%+ of the population agree that marriage is restricted to man and woman. Good luck with that.
Or, you could hold your breath for a very long time and hope that social reactionaries will hold majority power for long enough to replace most of the court. I bet you go beyond turning blue waiting for that to happen. I doubt Harper could live long enough to appoint a majority of jurists who would reverse course, even if he lived to 110 as sitting PM. Remember, people who think as I do would be among the candidates the Tories would choose from.
Or, you could hope that Harper would be stupid enough to use the notwithstanding clause. That would last for a few years until it needed to be renewed or it lapses. In the meantime the Conservatives would be wiped out in most every major urban centre in the country and their replacements would most likely repeal any bill that is so offensive rather than let it run its course to lapsing.
Realism is a good thing, Ben. One should realise when they are licked. Move on to other issues that actually matter.
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