The Unwritten Constitution: Conventions, Traditions and Norms in Our Populist Age

Constitutions are like icebergs, the visible parts, enshrined in law for all to see, sit upon a mass of norms, traditions, rules, and conventions that make up most of the governmental rules of the road but are largely unknown to the wider public. Such conventions are critical: the Supreme Court ruled in 1981, for example, that the patriation package of the Government of Canada was legal, but it broke with the convention that a sufficient number of provinces had to agree with constitutional amendments. The Trudeau government accepted this ruling about the centrality of conventions and returned to a final negotiating session with the provinces (which led in turn to the Constitution Act of 1982.) But in our populist age many leaders like Viktor Orban in Hungary or Donald Trump in the United States have ignored or even shattered conventions that previously had shaped democratic rules of the game. On January 18, 2023 from 8:15am – 2:00pm, the public policy program of Massey College will explore Canada’s unwritten constitution, the possible threats it faces and what reforms or guardrails are necessary to preserve our democracy from populist excess.

Agenda

8:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. - Light breakfast 

9:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. - Welcome 

• Nathalie Des Rosiers, Principal of Massey College
• Thomas Axworthy, Public Policy Chair, Massey College

9:15 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. - Panel 1: Conventions, the Rule of Law and Populism 

• Conventions and the Constitution – Vanessa MacDonnell – Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
• Populist Threats, a comparative analysis – Marcus Kolga – Journalist, Fellow at The Macdonald-Laurier Institute
• Public opinion and democratic challenges – Erin Kelly – CEO, Advanced Symbolics
• Moderated by Carolyn Tuohy – Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy; Senior Fellow, Massey College

10:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. - Coffee Break 

11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - Panel 2: Building Guardrails/Safeguarding Institutions 

• Judicial Appointments – Adam Goldenberg – Partner, McCarthy Tetrault LLP
• The Notwithstanding Clause – Caitlin Salvino – Junior Fellow, Massey College; Oxford University
• Populism and Public Administration – Patrice Dutil – Toronto Metropolitan University
• Moderated by Rechie Valdez, MP Mississauga-Streetsville

12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. - Lunch 

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. - Keynote/Summing Up

• Degrading norms: Crisis of Legitimacy or Just Bad Manners – Peter Biro, Lawyer, Founder of Section 1 Thinktank

Registration

FREE

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