Liberals accuse Poilievre of planning to override charter rights with notwithstanding clause

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of seeking to override constitutional rights following comments he made to the Canadian Police Association on Monday.

«Poilievre just proposed to override the fundamental freedoms and protections of Canadians, override the charter that is there to protect women, minorities, 2SLGBTQI+ communities,» Trudeau told reporters on his way into question period on Tuesday.

«That's not right and it's not responsible.»

During his speech to the police association, Poilievre promised to implement more stringent requirements for bail and make it harder for convicted murderers to transfer out of maximum security prisons.

The Tory leader hinted that he would use the notwithstanding clause to protect his proposed justice reforms from judicial review.

«We will make them constitutional, using whatever tools the Constitution allows me to use to make them constitutional. I think you know exactly what I mean,» Poilievre said Monday.

When asked by reporters to clarify his comments on Tuesday, Poilievre repeated his suggestion that his proposals will be «fully constitutional.»

«I will decide in my platform … my platform will be clear,» he said.

In 2022, Poilievre said he would use the notwithstanding clause to reinstate a law that gave judges discretion to hand out consecutive, 25-year blocks of parole ineligibility to offenders who commit multiple first-degree murders.

The Supreme Court ruled that law was unconstitutional in the case of Alexandre Bissonette, who killed six people in a Quebec City mosque in 2017.

The notwithstanding clause, or Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, gives parliaments in Canada the power to override certain portions of the