If he manages to make Quebec realize it can be used against them, we might finally be able to get rid of the damned thing.

(Hey, I can dream, right?)

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s suggestion this week that he would use the notwithstanding clause to push through criminal justice reforms would be a landmark moment in the history of the controversial mechanism, experts say.

In an interview on CBC Radio’s The House airing Saturday, defence lawyer Lindsay Board said federal use of Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, known as the notwithstanding clause, would be historic.

Speaking this week to a conference of the Canadian Police Association, Poilievre hinted at using the notwithstanding clause to implement criminal justice reforms on parole eligibility, concurrent sentencing and bail.

The notwithstanding clause gives parliaments in Canada the power to override certain portions of the Charter for five-year terms when passing legislation.

Board said that a federal government’s decision to deploy the notwithstanding clause would upset the back-and-forth between legislatures and courts over criminal law.

Geoffrey Sigalet, director of the UBC Centre for Constitutional Law and Legal Studies, said the use of the clause does allow for democratic discussion of issues on which legislatures and courts disagree, which can be a positive thing.

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