E. Conclusion

• Author: Robert J. Sharpe - Kent Roach
• Profession: Court of Appeal for Ontario - Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
• Pages: 44-46

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Overall, we suggest that the Charter has had a beneficial impact upon democratic life in Canada. Fundamental human rights are now properly at the forefront of public debate, and the claims of those often drowned out in the cut and thrust of day-to-day politics can no longer

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be ignored. Indeed, the Charter has made an important contribution to Canadian political life by creating what Roland Penner calls a "culture of liberty."⁵²Legislators cannot enact laws without consideration of their impact on individual rights, and government legal officers play an important role in encouraging their political masters to justify any limitations on Charter rights.

The Charter has the potential to strengthen the Canadian democratic tradition and commitment to toleration and equal respect for all, and judges have an appropriate part to play in protecting those values. As interpreted by the courts to date, the Charter neither precludes nor entrenches particular socio-economic outcomes but rather enriches the democratic process.

FURTHER READINGS

BAKAN, J, Just Words: Constitutional Rights and Social Wrongs (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997)

BAKER, D, Not Quite Supreme: The Courts and Coordinate Constitutional Interpretation (Montreal: MCGILL-Queen’s University Press, 2010)

BEATTY, DM, Constitutional Law in Theory and Practice (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995)

BEATTY, DM, The Ultimate Rule of Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)

BOGART, Wa, Courts and Country: The Limits of Litigation and the Social and Political Life of Canada (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1994)

BRUDNER, a, Constitutional Goods (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)

CONKLIN, WE, Images of a Constitution (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989)

DICKSON, B, ed, Judicial Activism in Common Law Supreme Courts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)

ELY, JH, Democracy and Distrust: A Theory of Judicial Review (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980)

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GARDBAUM, s, The New Commonwealth Model of Constitutionalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013)

HIEBERT, J, Charter Conflicts? What Is Parliament’s Role? (Montreal: MCGILL-Queen’s University Press, 2002)

HOGG, P, & A THORNTON, "The Charter Dialogue between Courts and Legislatures" (1997) 35 Osgoode Hall LJ 75

HUTCHINSON, ac, Waiting for CORAF: A Critique of Law and Rights (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995)

KELLY, J, & C MANFREDI, eds, Contested...