For years, conservative writers have been complaining about what they call “judicial activism”. Writers like Ted Morton, Rainier Knopff and Robert Martin sharply criticize judges whose rulings, based the Charter of Rights, make social policy that elected politicians are reluctant to challenge. Social activists use the courts to try and impose changes on society that are difficul, if not impossible to overturn. Issues that would normally be debated by elected officials are now seen as being beyond discussion.