NDP will seek emergency debate on Ford’s use of notwithstanding clause in CUPE case | Globalnews.ca: The NDP is asking for the House of Commons to hold an emergency debate regarding Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decision to invoke the notwithstanding clause in a move that would impose a contract on thousands of education support workers.

The clause gives governments the ability to pass a law overriding parts of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
for a five-year term. It’s supposed to be a rarely used piece of
legislation, but provinces have tried to invoke it multiple times in the
last two years.

The decision has been condemned by multiple politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called it “wrong.”

“I know that collective bargaining negotiations are sometimes difficult, but it has to happen,” Trudeau told reporters.

“The
suspension of people’s rights is something that you should only do in
the most exceptional circumstances, and I really hope that all
politicians call out the overuse of the notwithstanding clause to
suspend people’s rights and freedoms.”