The Maintenance Log — The Delusioneers

Overdue

Unit Description: Constitutional mechanism permitting temporary override of Charter rights (ss. 2, 7–15). Designed as emergency backstop. 5-year auto-expiry. No operator training required.

Intended Use: Exceptional circumstances only. Last resort.

Actual Use: See below.

Usage Log — Post-Hibernation Period (2018–Present)

Note: Unit dormant outside Quebec from 2000 to 2018 (18 years). Reactivated below.

Date	Operator	Action / Override Purpose	Rights Overridden	Status
May 2018	Saskatchewan Moe (SP)	School Choice Protection Act. Override of court ruling on Catholic school funding for non-Catholic students.	ss. 2, 7–15	Not in force
Sep 2018	Ontario Ford (PC)	Efficient Local Government Act (Bill 31). Reduce Toronto city council from 47 to 25 wards. Threatened after adverse court ruling. Abandoned after stay granted.	ss. 2, 7–15	Abandoned
Jun 2019	Quebec Legault (CAQ)	Bill 21 — Act Respecting the Laicity of the State. Ban religious symbols for public employees in authority. Pre-emptive invocation. No prior court ruling.	ss. 2, 7–15	Renewed 2024
2019	New Brunswick Higgs (PC)	Bill 11 — Immunization Act. Eliminate non-medical vaccine exemptions for school students. Invoked pre-emptively. Never advanced past second reading.	ss. 2, 7–15	Stalled
Jun 2021	Ontario Ford (PC)	Protecting Elections and Defending Democracy Act. Restrict third-party election advertising. Invoked after court struck down law. SCC struck down 2025 (s.3 not overridable).	ss. 2, 7–15	Struck down
Jun 2022	Quebec Legault (CAQ)	Bill 96 — Act Respecting French. Sweeping language law reform. Clause applied to entire bill. Pre-emptive. No prior court ruling.	ss. 2, 7–15	Active
Nov 2022	Ontario Ford (PC)	Keeping Students in Class Act (Bill 28). Impose collective agreement on 55,000 CUPE education workers. Ban strikes. Pre-emptive. Repealed 14 days later after mass backlash.	ss. 2, 7, 15	Repealed
Oct 2023	Saskatchewan Moe (SP)	Parents’ Bill of Rights (Bill 137). Require parental consent for student pronoun/name changes under 16. Emergency session called. Override of court injunction.	ss. 2, 7–15	Active
May 2024	Quebec Legault (CAQ)	Bill 21 renewal. Notwithstanding clause re-enacted for 5 more years (to 2029). Vote: 83–26.	ss. 2, 7–15	Renewed
Oct 2025	Alberta Smith (UCP)	Back to School Act (Bill 2). Force 51,000 teachers back to work. Impose rejected contract. Override right to strike. Pre-emptive. Passed in single night session.	ss. 2, 7, 15	Active

Current — SCC Hearing March 23–26, 2026

Equipment Performance Summary

Invocations since reactivation (2018)

Invocations in prior 18 years (2000–2018)

Provinces operating unit

Pre-emptive uses (no prior court ruling)

Passed in emergency / overnight session

Subsequently repealed or struck down

Scheduled maintenance

None

Federal uses to date

Inspector’s note: Unit was designed in 1982 as an emergency mechanism to be used, per its architect Peter Lougheed, as a “last resort.” Between 2000 and 2018, no province activated the unit. Since 2018, it has been deployed 10 times across 5 provinces. The majority of post-2018 activations were pre-emptive—invoked before any court had ruled, or in direct response to an unfavourable injunction. The unit has no built-in safety checks, requires no justification for activation, and has no operator training requirement. There is no maintenance schedule. There has never been a maintenance schedule.

The Supreme Court of Canada begins a four-day inspection on March 23, 2026.