Introduction

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has promised to use the notwithstanding clause to enact criminal justice reform if elected.  Liberals have pointed to this as an indication that Conservatives would use it for other things, including restricting abortion. 

How much of this is political posturing from either side? How huge a precedent would using the notwithstanding clause this way represent? If a Conservative government went down this path, would access to abortion really be at risk? And what could the Liberals do now if they believed that to be the case?

GUEST: Daphne Gilbert, professor of criminal and constitutional law at the University of Ottawa

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