5 premiers urge Carney to withdraw court submission on notwithstanding clause

Five premiers say Ottawa must withdraw its recent call for limits on the notwithstanding clause because it amounts to a "complete disavowal" of the bargain that spawned the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Constitution's notwithstanding clause gives provincial legislatures or Parliament the ability to pass legislation that effectively overrides provisions of the Charter, though only for a five-year period.

In a filing submitted last month to the Supreme Court of Canada in a case on Quebec's secularism law, Ottawa argues the constitutional limits on the notwithstanding clause preclude using it to distort or wipe out the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Charter.

The federal submission says the "temporary character" of the notwithstanding clause confirms that it cannot be used to c