POLITICIANS, COURTS HAVE ROLE IN DEBATES

MONTREAL -- Politicians and the courts have a role to play on such issues as
same-sex marriage and marijuana laws, Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley
McLachlin said Saturday.

McLachlin was responding to questions about a recent opinion poll in which 71
per cent of people said it should be up to Parliament and provincial
legislatures, not the courts, to make laws in Canada.

"In a democracy, Parliament and the legislatures have a pre-eminent role to
decide these questions of social importance but the courts also have a role to
determine where the boundaries of the constitutional action are and to
interpret the laws that come before them," McLachlin said.