Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — the so-called "notwithstanding clause" — allows governments, both provincial and federal, to override sweeping sections of the other rights the Charter grants. It was intended as a last resort to prevent federal and judicial overreach, leaving power with elected officials, accountable to voters. A compromise demanded by premiers like Alberta's Peter Lougheed, the constitution almost certainly wouldn't exist without it.Since enacted in 1982, the clause has been very rarely used outside of Quebec. But in recent years, politicians have been using it — or promising to — more and more. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has now used it twice in less than month to preempt court challenges on controversial labour and transgender youth laws.University of Alberta political science professor Jared Wesley explains why governments are increasingly invoking this supposed last resort to achieve their goals, and the tensions it exposes in Canadian democracy.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
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28:40
The ‘sniper tourists’ of Sarajevo
For decades there have been allegations that wealthy foreigners traveled into the Bosnian war, during the siege of Sarajevo, to shoot at besieged civilians for sport. That accusation is now the subject of an investigation by the public prosecutor's office in Milan, Italy.Today, we’re joined by Janine di Giovanni who covered the Bosnian war as a reporter for the Times of London, and lived through the siege of Sarajevo. She’s the author of two books on the war, and has covered 18 wars across her 35 years in journalism. She joins us to talk about ‘sniper tourism’, and the legacy of a defining European conflict. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
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31:38
Did Carney just pass a Progressive Conservative budget?
Mark Carney’s Liberals survived a confidence vote on their first budget Monday night. It was a strange vote, with four members of the Conservatives and the NDP abstaining, as well as some voting chaos from two of the most powerful members of the Conservative Party.CBC’s senior Parliamentary writer Aaron Wherry breaks down how the vote went, what it tells us about Parliament right now, and whether the budget itself signals a new era of Liberal politics. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
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23:30
A hinge point for human rights
Over 75 years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was established and signed by the newly formed United Nations after the atrocities of the Second World War to create a roadmap that establishes that every single person, regardless of who they are or where they’re from, has inalienable, inherent rights that the world must protect. But if you’ve been paying attention to the news at all lately, reality couldn’t seem further from that idea. Alex Neve is an international human rights lawyer and the former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada. He’s delivering this year’s Massey Lecture, broken into five parts, titled Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World. In it he goes through the massive challenges we face today and the things he’s learned from talking to people and bearing witness to human rights abuses from around the world. He also explores why the rights of some seem to take precedence over others. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
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26:16
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26:16
If AI is a bubble, what happens when it pops?
With the absolutely massive amounts of money tied up in the AI data centre boom, it's not hard to see why people fear a bubble. That worry has come into sharper focus in recent weeks, following comments from OpenAI and some big moves on the stock market.This recent round of bubble fear isn't about the tech itself. Rather, it's a growing realization that the boom is being funded in a way that’s starting to resemble some historically devastating bubbles of the past.Paul Kedrosky is a partner at the venture capital firm SK Ventures and a research fellow at MIT's Initiative for the Digital Economy. He explains why changes in the AI boom's financing are renewing fears of a bubble bursting, and the massive potential impacts if it does.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
Front Burner is a daily news podcast that takes you deep into the stories shaping Canada and the world. Each morning, from Monday to Friday, host Jayme Poisson talks with the smartest people covering the biggest stories to help you understand what’s going on.
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