Actor Mike Smith of Trailer Park Boys pleads not guilty to sexual assault charge

The Emergencies Act is now nearing forty years old. Its future is uncertain, its past now problematic. It may be the only piece of Canadian legislation never intended to be used. Made into law in 1988, it was devised for a severe national crisis, giving the federal government extraordinary powers to direct a response—on a strictly temporary basis. The law addressed a range of scenarios, from a “public welfare emergency” caused by natural disaster, disease, or pollution, to political disruption amounting to a public order breakdown, to international emergency, and, finally, war. It was...