Witnesses called at civil trial for Quebec cardinal suing accuser for defamation

OTTAWA — “Irreparable” attack on federalism or necessary protection of Charter rights? The two diametrically-opposed views on if the Supreme Court should impose new limits on the invocation of the nothwithstanding clause came to a head Wednesday as five provincial governments and the federal government made their cases during the Supreme Court’s (SCC) hearings on Quebec’s Bill 21. Taking position for the first time in the legal battle that began in 2019, the federal government argued that repeat invocations of the clause to suspend people’s Charter rights can have the effect of...