Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced today that her government will invoke the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to ram through not one, not two, but three separate laws targeting transgender Canadians, a legislative combo meal no one ordered.
Smith insisted the move was necessary to “protect parental rights, traditional values, and my party’s poll numbers,” brushing aside critics who suggested the province might be confusing the Charter of Rights with a roll of paper towels.
Civil rights advocates say the maneuver marks Alberta’s most ambitious attempt yet at using the notwithstanding clause as a political piñata, hitting it repeatedly in the hope that candy, or at least applause from angry Facebook groups, might fall out.
Legal scholars note the clause was intended as a rare safeguard, not a casual tool. But in Alberta, it’s apparently just another setting on the barbecue.
Would you like me to also generate a cartoon-style image to go with this, like we’ve done for your other satirical news pieces?
