About that "safeguard"...

I noted yesterday that Martin's attempt to reinforce the notwithstanding clause is ultimately of no effect, since if Parliament holds the power to change its own authority in one direction, it must also hold the authority to reverse the process. But last night, Layton pointed out why it's a good thing that's so...and why we want Parliament to retain some power over the courts:

Oops. It looked like a good idea Monday night when he sprung the idea of eliminating Ottawa's recourse to the notwithstanding clause on an unsuspecting public. Martin portrayed himself as the defender of basic rights. Why give Parliament the chance--the real implication: why give a Conservative Parliament the chance--to override Supreme Court decisions on issues like abortion or same-sex marriage. But in the cool light of the next day, with his opponents given a comeback in tonight's French language debate, the idea loses some of its sheen...

But what if we get a conservative court decision, Layton asks, one that takes away rights. What if a court denies women the right to a safe abortion. Or rules that publicly-run medicare is an outdated concept. Shouldn't Parliament have a voice, a powerful voice if it chooses to override that type of judgment.

An excellent point. And it presumably leaves Martin either feigning defenselessness against such decisions (which again would be wrong in any event) and claiming that's somehow a good thing, or trying to claim that the reversibility of his "safeguard" is really a plus just a night after pretending the change would be permanent.

Of course, Martin seems to have merely changed the subject within the debate itself rather than dealing with the obvious flaws in his big idea. But now that the Libs' ultimate bombshell idea has been exposed as a dud, it's tough to think Canadians will see much reason to pay attention to what's left in PMPM's arsenal.

(Note that I haven't seen a full transcript of this portion of the debate yet, but CBC's coverage seems fairly thorough - if anybody has the full details of Layton's answer, please pass a link along.)