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Quebec Appeal Court Bill 21 ruling fuels debate on notwithstanding clause

In its ruling, the Appeal Court noted that the notwithstanding clause must be renewed every 5 years
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Quebec Premier Francois Legault speaks to the media in Montreal, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, where he gave his reaction to the Quebec Court of Appeal’s decision on the province’s secularism law, known as Bill 21. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Hours after Quebec’s highest court upheld his state secularism law, Premier François Legault was triumphant.

The decision was “a great victory for the nation of Quebec,” he said in a brief statement to reporters Thursday. And he would not shy away from using the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ notwithstanding clause — which he now prefers to call the “parliamentary sovereignty clause” — to ensure Canada respects the choices of Quebecers, he promised.

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