Arguably, Justice Gillian Butler’s decision in a six year old case on the special ballot provisions of the provincial election law is one of the most significant political events in recent years.
Butler ruled the special ballot rules are unconstitutional since they deny an individual’s right to vote under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Introduced in 2007 with unanimous support of all members of the House of Assembly, the special ballot rules allow people to vote at least four weeks before an election exists.
Among the first critics of the special ballot rules was Mark Watton. He represented the Canadian Civil Liberties Association pro bono as an intervener in the case Butler heard. In 2007, though, Watton wrote a letter to the editor of the Western Star and later published it on his now-defunct blog nottawa. SRBP reproduced it from the print edition.
The fight against the special ballot laws took four years to get to a court and another six for the case to end in a decision but the fight was worth it.
Most people likely haven’t read Watton’s letter and the fact it isn’t available online anymore means that people writing about the issue these days won't know any of the background to the story. To remedy that and to give Watton his due, here’s the letter in its entirety.
The provincial government might appeal the decision. Hopefully it won’t since, as Watton explained a decade ago, the law is unconstitutional. There is no reason to disagree with Butler’s conclusion. The only sensible task for justice minister Andrew Parsons and his colleagues is to introduce amendments to the especial ballot law in the fall sitting of the House.
[Originally published in the Western Star and at nottawa, Friday 14 September 2007]