Friday, March 26, 2021
Yet Another Foundation of Canada, Its Freedom and its Democracy That Canadians Likely Do Not Know: POGG
"...The legal crusade against the Liberals’ greenhouse gas pricing “backstop” came to a dead end early Thursday. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 6-3 that Ottawa can, without violating the Constitution, require provinces to impose carbon taxes at a particular level and collect federal levies in ones that don’t. This required lawyers for the federal government to convince the court that they have a right to invoke what the pros call “POGG”: the residual “peace, order, and good government” power assigned to the Dominion in the old British North America Act.
The result is a slightly funny spectacle. POGG has been explicitly invoked only a handful of times in Canadian history. From fairly early days, the danger that POGG presents to provincial sovereignty has been evident to judges. One accepted avenue for the use of POGG is in matters of inherent “national concern,” a phrase we are stuck with mostly because it appeared in some early, lousy precedents..."
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/colby-cosh-the-feds-play-the-pogg-card-on-carbon-tax
What the Dissenting Supreme Court of Canada Judges Have to Say (and thr Media Will Not Highlight) About Stepping into Provincial Taxation
"...The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled the federal carbon tax law is constitutional, but it was a split decision with a strong dissent that argued the federal law “is a model of federalism that rejects our Constitution and rewrites the rules of Confederation.”
The majority decision, written by Chief Justice Richard Wagner, found the law is constitutional because reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a matter of national concern, and the law is focused on that narrow purpose.
But two justices, Russell Brown and Malcolm Rowe, argued the carbon tax law tramples on provincial rights and opens the door to further intrusions. A third justice, Suzanne Côté, dissented partially by arguing Ottawa has the right to pass such a law but this one gives the federal cabinet too much power..."
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Feds Allowed to Step Into Provincial Boundaries For Tax Purposes - What Next, a FEDERAL Land Transfter Tax on Top of Municipal and Provincial Land Transfer Tax? Housing is Also a "Concern"
Great, Feds allowed to step into provincial boundaries for tax purposes. What next, a FEDERAL land transfter tax on top of municipal and provincial land transfer tax?
Insert "land transfer taxes" in place of "carbon pricing".
"...The court thus accepts that Parliament can constitutionally establish a “floor” of carbon pricing across Canada because of the national concern doctrine, under which the federal government can exercise jurisdictional power not explicitly granted to it in the Constitution Act of 1867..."
