Sharpening the Dialogue Debate: The Next Decade of Scholarship

Abstract

The first part of this commentary examines the roles of coordinate construction in which legislatures act on their own interpretation of the constitution, second look cases in which the courts judge the constitutionality of a legislative reply to a judicial decision, and various constitutional remedies. The second part examines some differences in emphasis between the author's approach to dialogue and that taken by Hogg and his co-authors with respect to the justification of the judicial role in the dialogue, the relation between Charter dialogue and common law constitutionalism, and the proper interpretive approach to section 7 of the Charter. Three areas that may be a productive focus for the next decade of scholarship about institutional dialogue are outlined. They involve comparative studies, dialogue in the post 9/11 environment and increased study of the legislative role in dialogue.