Macdonald-Laurier Institute 2016 Review of the Supreme Court of Canada

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a public policy think tank based in Ottawa, recently released a report called The Supreme Court VS. Parliament Supreme Court of Canada 2016 Year in Review:

"The Supreme Court vs. Parliament emerged as the top theme of this third annual review of the Supreme Court of Canada’s major decisions. In a series of dissenting and concurring reasons, five of the nine judges on the Court voiced harsh criticism at various times of the majority judges for inappropriately intruding on Parliament’s policy-making role. This is a serious critique that goes to the heart of the relative responsibilities of the Court versus Parliament."

"Picking up where last year’s report left off, this report examines the legal significance and policy impact of the Supreme Court of Canada’s top-10 decisions from the last year (November 1, 2015 to October 31, 2016). These cases were selected based on the importance of their subject matter and broad significance to Canadians. While the start of the period covered by this report coincides with the commencement of the new Liberal government, decisions released during this period include litigation undertaken by both the former Conservative government as well as the new Liberal government."

"The main findings of this year’s study are:

1. A significant number of judges on the Supreme Court of Canada have been highly critical of their colleagues for intruding on Parliament’s policy-making role;
2. of the top-10 decisions in the last year, the federal government had zero wins, six losses, two mixed result outcomes, and two cases where it did not participate; and
3. major criminal justice reforms have been initiated by the Court to deal with significant concerns about delays and inefficiencies."

 It is the 3rd annual report on the country's top court written by University of British Columbia law professor Benjamin Perrin, Mr. Perrin once worked at the Court as a law clerk.