Sterling Lyon - Legacy

Legacy

Though his premiership was short, it's been argued that those years left an enduring legacy. An unsigned editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press argued: "The other major pillar of Mr. Lyon's legacy -- the inclusion of the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a defence of the supremacy of elected parliaments over unelected courts -- was controversial when he first supported it and remains so today. He feared that provincial and federal parliaments would themselves cede their power to the courts to avoid controversial issues, a fear that has proved well founded."