Supreme Court upholds Trudeau-era gag on MPs
The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a law preventing MPs from speaking about confidential intelligence reports.
Law professor Ryan Alford’s challenge of the NSICOP Act, a Trudeau-era law which prevents MPs from speaking about the findings of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians reports in the House of Commons, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.
The law threatens jail time for anyone who accesses the reports and reveals their contents, even in the House of Commons, which has historically afforded parliamentary privilege, shielding MPs from legal ramifications for speech uttered in Parliament. Alford attempted to argue that the law was unconstitutional as it restricts the free expression of parliamentarians who view the reports.
The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the law in an 8-1 vote, stating that Section 18 of the Constitution Act means that laws cannot be made that “fundamentally undermine” parliament’s function as a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy modelled on the English parliament.
