“There should be a political consequence to such a decision. But we are experiencing a certain trivialization of this suspension of rights,” he told the newspaper. “And when you combine that with the rise of populism around the world, you can see that there are concerns about what might be done.”
Trudeau told La Presse he’s also considering referring the matter to the Supreme Court.
“Our Minister of Justice, David Lametti, a former dean of the Faculty of Law at McGill University and a proud Quebecer, is thinking about the avenues open to us in this regard,” he said.
“The Parti Québécois, the Liberal Party and the Coalition Avenir Québec governments have all used the notwithstanding clause, notably to protect the French language,” the premier wrote
Representatives for the Prime Minister did not immediately respond to request for comment on Legault’s response.
Since first coming to power in 2018, Legault’s government has invoked the notwithstanding clause twice to protect a recently introduced secularism law and language law reforms from potential legal challenges.
This is not the first time Trudeau has voiced concern over recent invocations of the clause. In November, he told Ontario Premier Doug Ford that his government’s pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause in legislation intended to keep education workers from striking was “wrong and inappropriate.”