Many recent court cases across Canada have Judges accepting that rights are infringed under Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that such infringement is acceptable because Section 1 of the Charter provides that if the infringement of rights is within reasonable limits prescribed by law, then such infringement is acceptable. The two cases that spring to mind are the Ontario Superior Court decision regarding eviction of the Occupy Toronto Camp from St. James Park (
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2011/2011onsc6862/2011onsc6862.html) and the BC Supreme Court decision regarding the right to practise polygamy (http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/11/15/2011BCSC1588.htm#SCJTITLEBookMark3493).
Whether or not you agree with the outcome of either of the above cases (which I do in both cases), I think the reasoning from the Judges is somewhat troubling as to why rights conferred by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are ‘reasonably infringed’. It seems wrong to me and possible given the reasoning in these cases that the government of the day can pass legislation according to its whim (for example the omnibus crime bill put forward by the present Federal government) and then use that legislation as a basis for infringing our Section 2 Charter rights. I think this is very troubling, particularly in view of the omnibus crime bill and other pending legislation from the Harper Tories that seeks to expand the role and powers of law enforcement in Canada.
I believe that Harper is creating the conditions for a police state like environment in Canada. I think he is doing this consciously; the handling of the G20 in Toronto I believe is evidence of this. I also believe that Harper does not care about the average Canadian, that’s why his party cheated in terms of spending in the 2006 election - they finally pleaded guilty to this (
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Conservatives+plead+guilty+election+spending+case/5694652/story.html). I think Harper would like to rule Canada in a manner similar to how he rules his party – ‘do what I say or I’ll sideline you’. I wish Canadians would stand up to this man more. Do not be afraid of this small man who doesn’t care about you or Canada particularly. He cannot push all of us aside. The only thing Harper cares about is having power so that he can wield it to feather his own nest. He is a rigid, stubborn and fearful man with outdated policy and thinking. He doesn’t want to listen to Canadians. A sample of recent Tory action appears at the end of this post.
I understand that Canada is a country of law and in this respect the Judges’ hands are tied – they must uphold the law, not make the law. However, it seems to me that if the Judiciary is to keep some relevance, particularly in view of the legislation like the omnibus crime bill, then Judges will have to stop being apathetic. I would like to see some jurisprudence showing that the Judiciary might have the courage to stand up to what would be humanly clear as bad legislation. I am not asking for Judicial law making per se…on the contrary, I am asking for judicial disobedience in solidarity with the civil disobedience recently displayed by the Occupy movement. It is perhaps too early for judicial disobedience, but it would be nice to think that Judges are not just automatons serving a government that wields total power having received only 39.6% of the popular vote in Canada. I would like to encourage Judges to re-evaluate their role and realize that the time has come for them to judge again, not simply follow blindly what legislation and precedent is put before them.
Below are some of the "highlights" from our current Canadian majority government, which promised to clean up sleaze….you judge for yourself…(straight up links appear first, followed by quotes and paraphrasing of the same articles).
By Dean Beeby, The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press
CBC
3)
The Canadian Press – Joan Bryden
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1)
By Dean Beeby, The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - John Baird has set a new gold standard for business cards.
The Conservative foreign affairs minister demanded — and got — gold embossing on his business cards shortly after being shuffled into the portfolio last May, contrary to government rules.
Baird then ordered the word "Canada" dropped from the standard design, also against federal policy.
And he insisted that "Lester B. Pearson Building" be removed from the standard street address for Foreign Affairs' headquarters in Ottawa, thereby erasing the name of a former Liberal prime minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner.
The controversial changes initially provoked resistance from the senior Foreign Affairs bureaucrats who are responsible for implementing policies on government branding.
But in the end, Baird won a temporary exemption from the rules — and got his way.
A gold-embossed Canadian coat of arms now glistens from his unilingual English business cards, which lack the wordmark "Canada," a federal branding design that features a small Canadian flag above the last letter.
With the disappearance of the large "Canada," the biggest type on the card now is "The Honourable John Baird, P.C., M.P."
Emails, invoices, memos, letters and other documents detailing the gold-card caper were obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
2)
CBC
Defence Minister Peter MacKay has spent hundreds of hours and millions of dollars on Challenger jets since 2009, according to flight logs, with one trip costing more than $200,000.
An analysis of the logs by CBC News shows between January 2009 and June 2011 MacKay used a Challenger for more than 471 hours.
An hour on the Challenger in 2009 cost $10,104, including maintenance and the pilot's salary.
The logs show the cost of that.
In July 2009, a Challenger flew empty from Ottawa to Tofino, B.C., to pick up MacKay and fly him to Trenton, Ont., for one of the repatriation ceremonies. It also returned him to Tofino an hour after the ceremony to continue his holiday, and flew back empty to Ottawa from the West Coast.
The Challenger spent more than 20 hours in the air, at a cost of $205,111.20.
Had he flown on a commercial airline, leaving the day before and returning the day after, an executive class ticket would have cost about $5,600.
In November 2009, MacKay was at a Canadian Forces appreciation night at an Ottawa Senators game. He got on a Challenger at 11:02 p.m. ET to fly to Halifax, arriving at 1:34 a.m. ET. The next morning, he announced infrastructure funding, then left on the Challenger again at 9 a.m. to fly to Toronto, landing at 10:47 a.m.
The plane spent 4.9 hours in the air at a cost of $49,509.60.
John Baird, then the public works minister, flew commercial. That cost $1,032.66.
Harper defended MacKay Thursday during question period in the House of Commons.
NDP MPs, referring to a report that MacKay has taken nearly $3 million worth of flights on the government's Challenger jets since he was appointed defence minister in 2007, called on Harper to "ground this high flying minister."
3)
The Canadian Press – Joan Bryden
Clement was mocked in the Commons for his steadfast refusal to answer opposition questions about the fund, used primarily to beautify towns in his riding prior to hosting last year's G8 summit.
He was called a "coward" and "ridiculous" for sitting silently in his seat while Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird fields all questions. Baird was the infrastructure minister at the time of the summit and signed off on funding for 32 projects.
But how much Clement will actually be allowed to say at committee remains to be seen. Baird will also be there, along with other officials involved in doling out the cash.
"Will he hide behind John Baird?" said Liberal Leader Bob Rae.
Later during question period, Clement remained glued to his seat as Baird once again fended off new charges from New Democrat MP Charlie Angus.
Based on embarrassing emails the NDP has obtained through provincial freedom-of-information legislation, Angus said Clement intervened to persuade the town of Gravenhurst to drop expansion of a recreation centre from the list of projects it wanted funded through the G8 legacy fund.
Clement advised the town to apply to the Building Canada Fund instead, which it did. The Gravenhurst project subsequently became the focus of a police investigation into allegations that a kickback scheme ended up defrauding taxpayers of almost $1.8 million.
Angus said the move was designed to give Clement "a much larger pot of goodies" to hand out.
"The Gravenhurst project blew the budget, people were fired, the cops were called in. Does the minister think this is an appropriate way to abuse the public trust?"
Baird responded that the Gravenhurst project was not funded out of the G8 legacy fund and accused Angus of making up facts. Angus later said Baird's non-response demonstrates why Clement, the only one who knew what was going on, needs to answer for himself.
"I find it extraordinary that someone as important as the foreign affairs minister, who's speaking at the United Nations, who's dealing with international crisis in Libya, has to come back and cover up for poor Tony," Angus said.
"Tony, if you're not fit to do the job, what are you doing there?"
Rae said Clement's refusal to be accountable to parliamentarians is symptomatic of a government that is showing "the most unbearable form of arrogance" only six months after finally winning a majority.
"The whole attitude is one of kind of triumphalism. Every answer they give says: 'We've got the mandate to do whatever the heck we want, we're going to do it.'
"They're turning committees into rubber stamps. The agendas that are being set by committees are not taking into account the views of other parties. I mean, this is showing a very dangerous sign of pathology on the part of the Conservative government."
Rae complained the government has cut off debate after only one day on a massive omnibus crime bill, stacked a committee hearing with critics and competitors of the CBC and refused to allow NDP officials to appear at another committee to answer Tory charges of breaking election financing laws.
He said the partisan pettiness has extended even to the traditionally non-partisan parliamentary Canada-Israel friendship committee, where not a single opposition MP has been elected to sit on the executive.
4)
OTTAWA—The RCMP has decided not to investigate allegations the Harper government misappropriated funds to lavish on a cabinet minister’s riding prior to last year’s G8 summit.
Former Liberal MP Marlene Jennings had asked the Mounties during last May’s election campaign to look into the legality of the $50 million G8 legacy fund.
The fund was used to pay for gazebos, parks, streetscape upgrades and other beautification projects in Treasury Board President Tony Clement’s Parry Sound-Muskoka riding, which hosted the G8 summit.
Jennings’ complaint was prompted by a draft of an auditor general’s report, leaked to The Canadian Press in the midst of the election campaign, which suggested the funding may have been illegally obtained.
After reviewing the matter for almost seven months, the RCMP has now concluded there is no need for an investigation.
"To date, no information has been brought forward by the auditor general or otherwise that suggests contravention of an act of Parliament that would warrant a criminal investigation by the RCMP," Supt. Paul Bateman wrote in a Nov. 8 letter to Jennings.
