The January 6 insurrection has succeeded and the coup transforming the United States from liberal constitutional democracy to electoral autocracy is proceeding in rapid and deliberately conceived stages. Peter's conversation with Brian Crombie.

Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, also known as the NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE, is one of the Constitution’s most controversial and least well understood provisions. By invoking the notwithstanding clause, the government can insulate a law from the strongest order a court can issue, which is to strike down the law because it infringes a Charter right or freedom.

MISC presents a panel discussion amongst some leading experts and commentators who have contributed to a new and important volume, collection The Notwithstanding Clause and the Canadian Charter: Rights, Reforms and Controversies (McGill-Queen's University Press). Edited by Peter Biro, the collection examines the NWC from all angles, considering who should have the last word on matters of rights and justice – the legislatures or the unelected judiciary – and what balance liberal democracy requires.