Introduction : les silences du Renvoi relatif a la reforme du Senat.

• Author: Jutras, Daniel

Les avis exprimes par la Cour supreme du Canada sur les questions posees dans un renvoi par le gouverneur en conseil constituent toujours des moments forts de la vie juridique au Canada. Lorsque les questions touchent directement la Constitution du Canada elle-meme, plutot que la validite d'un texte legislatif propose, l'avis de la Cour acquiert vite le statut de jalon ou de point de repere incontournable sur le terrain accidente ou se croisent le droit et la politique. Ceci dit, ces avis comportent une large part de non-dit, de silences et de mots couverts. La Cour supreme balise elle-meme ce qu'elle accepte de discuter, et ce qu'elle laissera dans la penombre. Dans ce contexte, il faut se rejouir que des auteurs et des experts du droit constitutionnel prennent la plume pour rendre explicite ce que la Cour ne veut pas, ou ne peut pas dire. Les textes reunis dans ce numero special de la Revue de droit de McGill apportent un eclairage essentiel sur certains enjeux fondamentaux touchant la reforme du Senat canadien, et sur la contribution de la Cour supreme a ce debat recurrent. Ce faisant, ils comblent les vides laisses par la Cour et rendent explicites le contexte du Renvoi et son plein potentiel jurisprudentiel et politique.

One significant set of issues that is left in the penumbra of this Reference is identified explicitly by the Court itself. Early in its opinion, the Court notes that its task is not to address the substance of any proposed reform to the Senate, but to "determine the legal framework for implementing" whatever Canadians and their legislatures decide to do. (1) In this sense, although this opinion is indexed as Reference Re Senate Reform, it could have been identified as a Reference Re Constitutional Amendment Rules. This reluctance to address the substance and desirability of the reforms is unsurprising: there was no proposed legislation before the Court, as all of the bills invoked by the Attorney General of Canada to "illustrate" the content of proposed changes considered by Parliament had died on the Order Paper. More fundamentally perhaps, it is quite characteristic of the Court's constitutional discourse that it will cast itself in the less politically intrusive role of the umpire who merely sets the rules of the game, allowing the participants to decide their own fate. The last major constitutional reference was addressed in the same manner. (2)

Stepping into the void, several papers in this collection provide a...