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« Le droit électoral concerne le vote mais aussi, plus largement, l’ensemble des règles qui régissent le choix de représentants des citoyens au sein d’institutions politiques. Plus fondamentalement, le droit électoral touche la qualité de la démocratie. Lorsqu’il faillit à sa mission, par exemple en matière de financement ou d’intégrité du résultat du vote, c’est tout l’édifice démocratique qui est fragilisé. Malgré son importance, le sujet n’a jusqu’à maintenant fait l’objet d’aucun ouvrage de référence au Québec. Le livre Droit électoral québécois -- Repères et enjeux contemporains vise à répondre à ce besoin, principalement dans le langage du droit, mais aussi en puisant aux autres disciplines qui peuvent en enrichir l’étude, dont la science politique et l’histoire. Pierre Vallée propose ici une synthèse et un regard nouveau sur l’histoire du droit électoral québécois, sur ses acteurs ainsi que sur ses principes et thèmes fondamentaux, dont la représentation électorale, l’administration des scrutins, le financement et les dépenses politiques, les mécanismes de contrôle, les dispositions pénales, la protection des renseignements personnels des électeurs de même que les campagnes numériques. Bien qu’il ait beaucoup en commun avec les autres démocraties représentatives, la singularité du régime électoral québécois est mise en relief, ainsi que les débats qui l’animent, dans ce panorama qui intéressera à la fois les juristes et les chercheurs d’autres disciplines ayant les élections pour objet d’étude. »-- Quatrième de couverture

Constitutional Law of Canada has been the classic text in its field for decades, and the one to which scholars, practitioners and students turn for authoritative guidance on the complex issues and concepts which comprise Canadian constitutional law. Wade K. Wright assumed authorship of the text in 2021, stepping into the shoes of the late Peter W. Hogg, the founding author. The 2023 Student Edition is an abridged version of the two-volume looseleaf 5th Edition, which is revised annually by the author. The Student Edition contains 35 of the 60 chapters from the loose-leaf that are most likely to be useful to students. For ease of reference, the title of each of the omitted chapters is listed in the Preface to this edition. The Student Edition includes the Index found in the loose-leaf edition. The 2023 Student Edition is current to December 2022." --Page 4 of cover.

Partisan self-dealing in the design of election laws is a central challenge for democratic governance. This article develops a new conceptual framework, which I call a structural rights approach, that would enable the Supreme Court of Canada to respond effectively to this problem. A structural rights approach uses the language and logic of individual rights to regulate the structure of democratic institutions. In particular, I argue that courts should design democratic rights to remedy the structural deficiencies of the political system. To this end, I claim that the Supreme Court should interpret the right to vote as encompassing a new democratic right – the right to a fair and legitimate democratic process. In addition, I argue that the right to a fair and legitimate democratic process is best understood as a ‘structural right.’ I define ‘structural rights’ as individual rights that take into account the broader institutional framework within which rights are defined, held, and exercised. This article focuses on two cases studies – electoral redistricting and campaign finance – to show how the Court could use the right to a fair and legitimate democratic process to remedy the problem of partisan self-dealing. In addition, this article canvasses a wide array of structural approaches in the Canadian and American law of democracy literatures, and it locates the structural rights approach within this body of scholarship. The article also considers the structural rights approach with reference to theories of dialogue and deference. The structural rights approach not only provides a new paradigm for the Supreme Court’s oversight of the democratic process; it also offers an alternative way to conceptualize democratic rights.

Introduces citizens to solutions for reforming the American campaign finance system

"Written by two of Canada’s leading constitutional scholars, the seventh edition of The Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides a uniquely accessible yet thorough and objective account of the Canadian Charter. This new edition includes, for the first time, a chapter examining Aboriginal and Treaty rights. The authors examine the manner in which Canadian courts have come to terms with the constitutional protection of rights, focusing on the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada. The purpose is to explain Charter and Aboriginal rights, their interpretation by the courts, and their practical application. This edition also highlights a number of important cases in recent Canadian law. For example, Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique refused to accept that controlling the cost of minority-language education, which is a Charter right, would justify limiting that right under section 1. The decision also refused to extend qualified immunities from Charter damage awa rds to government policy decisions. The Frank decision, which struck down the disenfranchisement of Canadian citizens living abroad, and an important new remedies case, Ontario (Attorney General) v G, which will affect suspended declarations of invalidity and applicable exemptions, are both given a detailed and comprehensive analysis. The authors also discuss recent developments in the section 2(b) right to freedom of religion, including both the Ktunaxa Nation decision rejecting an Indigenous group’s claim that a development project would infringe on their right to freedom of religion, and the Trinity Western decisions dealing with a religiously motivated covenant that discriminated against prospective LGBTQ2S+ law students; developments in freedom of expression, including election spending and journalists being required to reveal their sources; the important role played by the Charter in the criminal process, including the Boudreault decision, which extends the protection against c ruel and unusual punishment; and developments in the area of equality rights, including decisions on pay equity and the Fraser case, which deals with pension benefits for women."-- Provided by publisher.

'This publication presents a fascinating account of the struggles and reforms that have shaped Canada's electoral system from pre-Confederation times to the present day. Originally researched and published in 1997 and updated in 2007, this third edition -

Section 33 - what is commonly referred to as the notwithstanding clause (NWC) - was written into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to allow Parliament and the provinces to provisionally override certain Charter rights.The Notwithstanding Clause and the Canadian Charter examines the NWC from all angles and perspectives, considering who should have the last word on matters of rights and justice - the legislatures or the unelected judiciary - and what balance liberal democracy requires. In the case of Quebec, the use of the clause has been justified as necessary to preserve the province's culture and promote its identity as a nation. Yet Quebec's pre-emptive and sweeping invocation of the clause also challenges the scope of judicial review and citizens' recourse to it, and it tests the assumption that a dialogue between the judiciary and the legislature is always preferable in instances in which the legislative branch decides to suspend the operation of certain Charter rights and freedoms. By virtue of its contested purposes, interpretations, operation, and applications, the NWC represents and, to an extent, defines both the character and the very real vulnerabilities of liberal constitutionalism in Canada.The significance, effects, and legitimacy of the NWC have been vigorously debated within scholarship and among politicians and activists since the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982. In The Notwithstanding Clause and the Canadian Charter leading scholars, jurists, and policy experts elucidate and prescribe reforms to the application of this consequential clause about which so much is written, and around which there is relatively little consensus.

"This text examines the rules and regulations that apply to the running of elections in Canada, following the passing of the Elections Modernization Act in 2018 and in effect for the 43rd general election in 2019. The book covers the laws affecting voting rights and participation in the electoral process, analysis of the laws that apply to candidates, the laws governing riding associations and political parties and associations, campaign financing, political advertising and election compliance and enforcement. It also discusses new rules affecting third parties participating in the democratic process at election time. A new chapter offers practical guidance and summarizes key legal considerations at the various stages of campaign planning and execution for those involved in the electoral process as candidates, members of riding associations and campaign worker and volunteers."-- Provided by publisher.

Prisons present a special context for the interpretation of constitutional rights, where prisoner complaints are pitched against the justifications of prison administrators. In the United States, the history of prisoner rights can be told as a story of the ebb and flow of judicial willingness to defer to the expertise-infused claims of prison administrators. Deference is ostensibly justified by a judicial worry that prison administrators possess specialized knowledge and navigate unique risks, beyond the purview of courts. In recent years, expansive judicial deference in the face of “correctional expertise” has eroded the scope and viability of prisoners’ rights, serving to restore elements of the historical category of “civil death” to the legal conception of the American prisoner. In Canada too, courts have often articulated standards of extreme deference to prison administrators, both before and after the advent of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and notwithstanding that the Charter places a burden on government to justify any infringement of rights. Recently, however, two cases from the Supreme Court of British Columbia mark a break from excessive deference and signify the (late) arrival of a Charter-based prison jurisprudence. In each case, prisoner success depended on expert evidence that challenged the assertions and presumed expertise of institutional defendants. In order to prove a rights infringement and avoid justification under section 1, the evidence must illuminate and specify the effects of penal techniques and policies on both prisoners and third parties. The litigation must interrogate the internal penal world, including presumptions about the workings of prisoner society and conceptions of risk management.