Charter Rights and Public Policy Choices: The Supreme Court and Public Finance

Abstract

Over the past two decades there have been numerous highly charged court cases involving claims that government program offerings and public spending fail to satisfy guarantees entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.1 Calls for enhanced appeal mechanism in refugee determination,2 provincial health care coverage of hospital translation services for the deaf,3 equal leave provisions4 for both adoptive and birth parents, government coverage of autism treatment regimes,5 and access to health care provision rather than access to a waiting list6 all illustrate the intersection of the Charter with the allocation of the public purse.