Election 2021! (Canada votes again...)

[marshwiggle]

So ultimately, if the govt refuses to rewrite the law to comply with the court's objections, the court's view wins out and the law is nuked?

BTW, exactly what comprises the 'constitution' in Canada?   Is this essentially just equal to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or is there more to it?   And how might it be amended?   I have read that the US constitution is essentially the hardest current constitution in a democratic country, to amend, but maybe this is wrong?

The Constitution Act of 1982* and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms together make what govern Canadian law.

Regarding amendments:

There must be at least seven provinces that approve the change, representing at least 50% of Canada's population. This is often called the 7 + 50 rule.

*The Constitution Act of 1982 updates/replaces the Consitution Act of 1867, from Confederation, also known as the British North American (BNA) Act.

One thing that has been alluded to earlier, but in federal politics in Canada, regional representation is much more of a concern than ideological issues. For almost any issue, the variations by region will encapsulate or colour any ideological differences.

To give an example, consider bilingualism, which is a big issue. Four provinces where this is a particular concern are New Brunswick (in the East), Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba (in the West). The ramifications of any law around bilingualism will be different in each of these provinces.

After any election, but especially one producing a minority government, a much-discussed topic will be what regions are poorly-represented in the governing party. (Typically, Liberals are strong in Quebec, and very weak in the West. For the Conservatives, it tends to be the reverse.)
A government which managed to have decent representation in all regions of the country would probably be pretty effective and reasonable.

One more example regarding regional variations: Even the NDP, which gets seats in remote Northern Ontario and urban Toronto, will have very different pitches to those regions, because the issues are very different.