DROVER: Here we go again... Carney pledged more use of courts to change Canada

Devin Drover is general counsel with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation The government shouldn’t be paying lawyers to sue the government. That it’s even necessary to write that sentence is absurd. Worse, taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to secretly fund lawsuits that try to make their lives more expensive. But newly re-elected Prime Minister Mark Carney intends to do even more of that. The 2025 Liberal platform contained a commitment to “expand” the Court Challenges Program..This program is federal slush fund that hands out millions in tax dollars to activist groups using the courts to push for higher taxes and bigger government.First, tax dollars are funneled to activist lawyers to challenge the government’s own laws. Second, justice department lawyers are paid to defend the government from these same challenges.For example, its latest annual report describes how the program funded paid activist lawyers to argue in favour of the carbon tax in the Reference re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act case..Yes, you read that right.Your tax dollars were used to help defend a tax that makes it more expensive to drive to work, heat your home and put food on the table. The federal government used your money to fund activists to push its own unpopular policies at the country’s top court.And now, despite all of those legal bills, Carney set the carbon tax to zero anyway.Instead of Parliament debating and deciding on major policy changes, these taxpayer-funded activists pressure courts to rewrite laws for them or expand the government’s own agenda.It’s undemocratic, it’s wasteful and it needs to end..Unfortunately, Canadians have seen this cycle before.The Court Challenges Program was first launched in the late 1970s and began funneling taxpayer dollars to special interest groups under the guise of defending constitutional challenges related to “official language rights and human rights.”But by the time Stephen Harper became prime minister, it had become a funding pipeline for activists pushing policies that politicians couldn’t pass through Parliament.Harper shut it down in 2006.Groups like the Feminist Legal and Education Action Fund received millions in taxpayer dollars to bankroll lawsuits aimed at forcing new policies on Canadians while bypassing the democratic process entirely.Some cases tried to force provinces to expand welfare programs and increase already-soaring health-care funding, while others sought to restrict free speech and political advocacy.In 2017, Trudeau brought the program back..Today, the Court Challenges Program burns through more than $6 million a year. And despite being taxpayer funded, there’s little transparency about where the money goes and how it’s being used. If taxpayers are footing the bill; they have every right to know how their money is being spent.There’s also a clear imbalance in who benefits. While the government claims the program is open to anyone bringing constitutional challenges, in practice the funding overwhelmingly goes to groups that support the government’s own agenda.Some Canadians may agree with the policies being pushed. But is it fair to force all taxpayers, including those who strongly disagree, to bankroll these court battles?In a free country, people have every right to advocate for policy changes. They can make their case to the public, petition their elected representatives, and take legal action if they choose. But they should do it on their own dime and not with taxpayer money.Ultimately government shouldn’t be using tax dollars to tip the scales in legal and political fights.Canadians are already struggling with rising taxes and an affordability crisis. The last thing they need is a government-backed slush fund bankrolling lawsuits that make life even more expensive.But instead of moving in the right direction, Carney is pledging to expand this program, and Canadians are going to pay the price.Devin Drover is General Counsel with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

DROVER: Here we go again... Carney pledged more use of courts to change Canada

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