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Paramountcy
The Paramountcy
Doctrine
The paramountcy doctrine may be stated in this way. From constitutionally valid power
bases in their own respective catalogues
of powers, both Parliament and a provincial legislature enact valid legislation. The legislations meet in the sense that
they regulate similar activities.
The legislations contradict: in a strong sense the two statutes
command a citizen to do inconsistent things and the citizen cannot comply
with both statutes. One statute says
“go right”, the other says “go left”, and the citizen cannot go in both
directions. In a weaker version — R.
v. Chiasson, (1982), 135 D.L.R. (3D) 499 (N.B.C.A.) affirmed [1984] 1
S.C.R. 266 — the legislations contradict in that the provincial legislation
weakens the enforcement or confuses the citizen about the purpose of the
federal legislation. The point, in
any event, is that the legislations meet, regulate the same
activities, and conflict. When they
do, the federal legislation prevails.
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