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LTRS’s Douglas Alderson has co-authored a new book with C. Gwendolyn Landolt and Patrick Redmond entitled From Democracy to Judicial Dictatorship: The Untold Story of the Charter of Rights.
The book provides an accessible survey of the history and politics that went into the 1982 patriation of Canada’s Constitution which resulted in the loss of Parliamentary sovereignty and the rise of judicial activism. Critical of that judicial activism, the authors make the case that reform is not only necessary but possible. The argument is made that the contradiction inherent between democracy and judicial review can be reconciled but only when the courts and legislature actively seek to re-balance their respective roles based on principles of responsible government and electoral accountability which respect the fundamental legitimacy of law based upon the consent of the governed.
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