Power struggle...

The current case before the Federal Court of Appeals in which the Government of Canada seeks to overturn an order to act to aid Omar Khadr may represent the denouement of a long running war waged by the old Reformists against the courts of Canada. This case may prove to be an interesting test.

The government has elevated this case to a level from which a substantive precedent may be established. By arguing that the Courts are interfering in foreign policy they seek to place such policy outside of the constitutional framework within which the government is normally bound to act. Their argument of 'executive privilege' has a very Bush like tone to it and represents a dangerous erosion to our systems of checks and balances that is intended to ensure there are limits on the power individuals may exercise in office. To place the Prime Minister and his cabinet outside of these constraints is to open the gates to a form of absolute power. The government's gambit may have in fact exposed their position in such a way that the Courts will have no choice but to rule against them.

The second point in the government's primary argument is that there is no obligation for the government to act to protect Canadian citizen's abroad. Such an absurdist position reflects the Kafkaesque treatment of Abdelrasik