D. Conclusion

• Author: Patrick J. Monahan - Byron Shaw
• Pages: 472-473

Page 472

It is clear that the enactment of the Charter represents one of the most significant political developments in Canada in the twentieth century. The courts now routinely review a wide variety of legislative enactments which, prior to 1982, would have been regarded as wholly outside the province of the judiciary. This new and expanded judicial role is not surprising. The drafters of the Charter envisaged and intended that the Charter operate as a constraint on the ability of legislatures to interfere with individual rights and freedoms. These constitutional constraints can only be given real meaning if the courts are prepared to review the complex and value-laden decisions of legislatures and governments, so as to ensure that concerns about individual rights are taken seriously. In exercising these new responsibilities, Canadian courts have, for the most part, escaped the kinds of controversies that have surrounded the constitutional role of the U.S. Supreme Court. In part, this has been a result of the fact that the Canadian Supreme Court has carefully balanced competing interests in difficult cases, so as to arrive at compromise results which seem broadly acceptable to most elements of the public as well as to most governments.

FURTHER READINGS

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

Hogg, p.W., Constitutional Law of Canada, looseleaf (Toronto: Car-swell, 1997) cc. 33-36, 40-53

Page 473

Hogg, p.W., & A. Bushell, "The Charter Dialogue Between Courts and Legislatures" (1997) 35 Osgoode Hall L.J. 75

Hogg, p.W., A. Bushell thornton, & w. wright, "Charter Dialogue Revisited - ‘Or Much Ado About Metaphors’" (2007) 45 Osgoode Hall L.J. 1

Hutchinson, a.c., Waiting for CORAF: A Critique of Law and Rights (Toronto: University of...