Right now, the greatest challenge to Canadian democracy is not low voter turnout, American-style campaigning, or even corrupt politicians. The single greatest threat to Canadian democracy is the Conservative government's war on the Supreme Court.
They attacked the Supreme Court when they launched a smear campaign against Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin for questioning the eligibility of the Conservative's Supreme Court appointee (a legitimate practice established through precedent). They attacked the Supreme Court on April 25, 2014, when Stephen Harper stated that the Supreme Court "decided" to stick with the status quo on the issues of Senate reform and abolition. Now, they are attacking the Supreme Court by insinuating that the Supreme Court is advocating for the normalization of marijuana consumption when in reality they are determining the constitutionality of a law supported by the Conservatives.
If a government finds its laws continually challenged as unconstitutional by legal experts, the problem isn't with the legal experts. With regards to the Conservatives current attack on the Supreme Court, Liberal MP Adam Vaughan's words described it best: "It's not ideology, it's idiocy."
James Mangan
Prince George
