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3. The NDP supports a Supreme Court spy hunt

The NDP will call for an independent probe of the Supreme Court of Canada, following troubling claims in a book by Frédéric Bastien, a Dawson College historian. La Bataille de Londres [The Battle of London] reports that, during the court’s deliberation on whether Canada’s constitution could be patriated without unanimous consent of the provinces, former Chief Justice Bora Laskin and Justice Willard Estey, both now dead, leaked details to Pierre Trudeau’s government, helping to set at ease influential minds in London. This would appear to violate the independence of the judiciary, and has infuriated the PQ government in Quebec, whose Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Alexandre Cloutier said: “It questions the legitimacy of the Supreme Court reference [which decided Quebec did not have a veto.]” The Supreme Court has undertaken a probe of its own.

4. Liberals and NDP are divided by rules of secession

Quebec has been key to so many elections, including the one that brought the NDP to the Opposition benches, and the Conservatives are as vulnerable there as anywhere. With the separatist Bloc Québécois all but wiped out, a party’s stance on the Clarity Act suddenly becomes a wedge issue. The Clarity Act, passed in 2000 by the Liberal government in response to the closely split 1995 referendum, establishes the necessary conditions under which Canada would negotiate Quebec’s secession, primary among them being the will of a “clear majority.” Mr. Trudeau supports it as a bulwark against the country’s breakup, and has said he will not seek Quebec’s belated signature because that would open old wounds. Mr. Mulcair, however, wants to amend the law such that a simple majority of 50% plus one would suffice.