Leonid Sirota
@doubleaspect.blog
Legal academic; mostly Canadian and comparative public law. Associate Professor @unirdg-law.bsky.social; Senior Fellow, Macdonald Laurier Institute; blogger, doubleaspect.blog
Pinned
Leonid Sirota
@doubleaspect.blog
· Nov 7
Nothing Has Changed
Some thoughts on recent events
doubleaspect.blog
New post, on recent events: "Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear", even if that means choosing utopia over hope.
Nouveau billet: en réaction au projet de loi 9, qui interdira, entre autres, les signes religieux dans les écoles privées subventionnées comme celle où j'ai étudié, je partage mon souvenir d'un professeur jésuite. doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/27/l...
La leçon du Père Bourgeois
À propos des symboles religieux dans les écoles privées subventionnées
doubleaspect.blog
November 27, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Nouveau billet: en réaction au projet de loi 9, qui interdira, entre autres, les signes religieux dans les écoles privées subventionnées comme celle où j'ai étudié, je partage mon souvenir d'un professeur jésuite. doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/27/l...
Nouveau billet, dans lequel je partage le mémoire que j'ai présenté à la Commission des institutions de l'Assemblée nationale pour son étude du projet de loi 1 doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/27/m...
Mémoire
Mon mémoire au sujet de la « Constitution du Québec »
doubleaspect.blog
November 27, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Nouveau billet, dans lequel je partage le mémoire que j'ai présenté à la Commission des institutions de l'Assemblée nationale pour son étude du projet de loi 1 doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/27/m...
J'ai récemment été invité, avec Guilleaume Rousseau, à parler du projet de loi 1, qui inclut notamment une constitution (un peu) codifiée et (pas vraiment) enchâssée pour le Québec, dans le cadre d'un épisode du balado des étudiants en droit de Sherbrooke, Affaire classée. Bonne écoute!
Ep. 3 S.1 - La constitution Québécoise, est-ce une bonne idée?
open.spotify.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
J'ai récemment été invité, avec Guilleaume Rousseau, à parler du projet de loi 1, qui inclut notamment une constitution (un peu) codifiée et (pas vraiment) enchâssée pour le Québec, dans le cadre d'un épisode du balado des étudiants en droit de Sherbrooke, Affaire classée. Bonne écoute!
ICYMI: Some further mythbusting in relation to the notwithstanding clause. Does opposing it means opposing democracy? Are the judges whose decisions it's used to override just Liberals? The answers may surprise you! doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/10/n...
Notwithstanding Myths
The case for the notwithstanding clause rests on misunderstanding or misdirection.
doubleaspect.blog
November 10, 2025 at 10:07 PM
ICYMI: Some further mythbusting in relation to the notwithstanding clause. Does opposing it means opposing democracy? Are the judges whose decisions it's used to override just Liberals? The answers may surprise you! doubleaspect.blog/2025/11/10/n...
My new favourite bit of notwithstanding clause trivia:
November 10, 2025 at 2:22 PM
My new favourite bit of notwithstanding clause trivia:
New post: further notwithstanding clause mythbusting, to follow-up on my op-ed in the National Post last week.
Notwithstanding Myths
The case for the notwithstanding clause rests on misunderstanding or misdirection.
doubleaspect.blog
November 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM
New post: further notwithstanding clause mythbusting, to follow-up on my op-ed in the National Post last week.
George Brown on Canadian union and American insanity. (The American government was, in fact, insane; not for the last time.)
November 7, 2025 at 2:54 PM
George Brown on Canadian union and American insanity. (The American government was, in fact, insane; not for the last time.)
More George Brown on immigration and ambition for one's country.
November 7, 2025 at 2:37 PM
More George Brown on immigration and ambition for one's country.
George Brown on Comeau. Oopsie!
November 7, 2025 at 1:55 PM
George Brown on Comeau. Oopsie!
George Brown on how to think about taxation and trade.
November 7, 2025 at 1:38 PM
George Brown on how to think about taxation and trade.
George Brown on the people whose opinion you want to get on the right side of when you have ambitions and aspirations for your country's future.
November 7, 2025 at 1:25 PM
George Brown on the people whose opinion you want to get on the right side of when you have ambitions and aspirations for your country's future.
ICYMI: My piece in the National Post addressing some of the myths being spread about the "notwithstanding clause" to justify its widespread use. nationalpost.com/opinion/leon...
Leonid Sirota: Yes, the notwithstanding clause overrides rights. No, it isn't defensible
When Sec. 33 becomes habit, the people will lose
nationalpost.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:10 PM
ICYMI: My piece in the National Post addressing some of the myths being spread about the "notwithstanding clause" to justify its widespread use. nationalpost.com/opinion/leon...
Been called "some clown in England" at the other place, by some sad creature who goes by @TheKaiserSpeaks, which means I'm required to share this. I didn't make the rules!
November 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Been called "some clown in England" at the other place, by some sad creature who goes by @TheKaiserSpeaks, which means I'm required to share this. I didn't make the rules!
My latest in the National Post, addressing a mythology that is coming to surround the "notwithstanding clause" and make it into something inoffensive and practically cuddly. It's nothing of the sort. nationalpost.com/opinion/leon...
Leonid Sirota: Yes, the notwithstanding clause overrides rights. No, it isn't defensible
When Sec. 33 becomes habit, the people will lose
nationalpost.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:19 PM
My latest in the National Post, addressing a mythology that is coming to surround the "notwithstanding clause" and make it into something inoffensive and practically cuddly. It's nothing of the sort. nationalpost.com/opinion/leon...
Time to plug something I wrote back when I was teaching at AUT in New Zealand.
November 3, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Time to plug something I wrote back when I was teaching at AUT in New Zealand.
So this is a fun read for colleagues in UK universities.
China intimidated UK university to ditch human rights research, documents show
Sheffield Hallam University apologises to Professor Laura Murphy for restricting her academic freedom.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 1:52 PM
So this is a fun read for colleagues in UK universities.
John A Macdonald on Yes, Kings (but not *that* kind)!
November 1, 2025 at 12:04 PM
John A Macdonald on Yes, Kings (but not *that* kind)!
Sir John A Macdonald stating the obvious during the Confederation Debates, February 6, 1865. The population of Canada at the time: a bit over 3 million. Being ambitious for your country means being open to immigration. Is there any country today that has this much ambition?
October 31, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Sir John A Macdonald stating the obvious during the Confederation Debates, February 6, 1865. The population of Canada at the time: a bit over 3 million. Being ambitious for your country means being open to immigration. Is there any country today that has this much ambition?
Sir John A Macdonald, describing the heights of political enmity during the Confederation Debates (February 6, 1865)
October 31, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Sir John A Macdonald, describing the heights of political enmity during the Confederation Debates (February 6, 1865)
ICYMI: A right-wing takeover is no solution to left-wing philistinism
“I’m from the New Right and I’m Here to Help”
Institutions of culture and learning should be run by those who love them — and not by political commissars
doubleaspect.blog
October 31, 2025 at 2:51 PM
ICYMI: A right-wing takeover is no solution to left-wing philistinism
New post: too many institutions of culture and learning are run by ideologues who loathe what they are supposed to cherish. Replacing them by right-wing commisssars is not the answer.
“I’m from the New Right and I’m Here to Help”
Institutions of culture and learning should be run by those who love them — and not by political commissars
doubleaspect.blog
October 30, 2025 at 5:44 PM
New post: too many institutions of culture and learning are run by ideologues who loathe what they are supposed to cherish. Replacing them by right-wing commisssars is not the answer.
Alberta has now used the "notwithstanding clause" to end a teachers' strike; Ontario did it too. The SCC's misbegotten case law on the "right" to strike is an embarrassment, yet there's no discussion of a constitutional amendment to overturn it, just lazy resort to s 33, which undermines all rights.
October 29, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Alberta has now used the "notwithstanding clause" to end a teachers' strike; Ontario did it too. The SCC's misbegotten case law on the "right" to strike is an embarrassment, yet there's no discussion of a constitutional amendment to overturn it, just lazy resort to s 33, which undermines all rights.
ICYMI: The Ontario government wants to scrap fixed-date elections and the censorship rules it used the "notwithstanding clause" to enact, and barely bothers hiding the rank partisan self-interest driving its proposals. doubleaspect.blog/2025/10/28/w...
Whiplash
The good, the bad, and the ugly in Ontario’s election law reform
doubleaspect.blog
October 29, 2025 at 2:17 PM
ICYMI: The Ontario government wants to scrap fixed-date elections and the censorship rules it used the "notwithstanding clause" to enact, and barely bothers hiding the rank partisan self-interest driving its proposals. doubleaspect.blog/2025/10/28/w...
Profound commentary from the longtime member of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. ¿Por qué no te callas?
October 28, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Profound commentary from the longtime member of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. ¿Por qué no te callas?
New post: The Ontario government can't censor pre-election ads against it, so it's scrapping fixed-date elections instead. That's not all bad, but the crass self-interestedness of its proposal is galling.
Whiplash
The good, the bad, and the ugly in Ontario’s election law reform
doubleaspect.blog
October 28, 2025 at 6:23 PM
New post: The Ontario government can't censor pre-election ads against it, so it's scrapping fixed-date elections instead. That's not all bad, but the crass self-interestedness of its proposal is galling.