Challenge for cause

Justice Benotto's decision in R v. Pechaluk, released today, deals with the issue of challenge of jurors for cause. Her reasons are as yet unreported but read, in part:

It is our belief that jurors mean what they say when they answer that they will be able to render an impartial verdict. It is our belief that they take their oath seriously. An undesirable candidate is not one who has a prejudice but one who might not be able to set it aside.

The personal beliefs of the potential juror are not in issue. What is in issue is whether the person is capable of putting those beliefs aside in order to render an impartial verdict. If the bias exists, the juror must be able to put it aside in order to be impartial as between the Crown and the Defence.

Vera in the sunshine

The Spring is coming!!!

Maybe there is a problem in the Conservative caucus

The recent leaks from caucus and Cabinet (something totally unknown Liberal governments) together with the political posturing on minor wedge issues -- tough on polygamy, seriously, it's illegal and who is pushing the issue -- suggests that perhaps there is a lose of total command and control from the PMO.

That makes some sense. The issues that unite economic and social conservatives are not being very well served by this government; in fact, much of what Harper is doing seems more Liberal than Conservative.

Issues like abortion, gay marriage and a Focus on the Family are not on the radar -- so instead we have a demand that all immigrants speak English or French -- political posturing. The deficit and the budget are hardly where fiscal conservatives want; I think the deficit is necessary for the moment but I'm a Liberal.

And of course there is the unhappy treatment of a former Conservative Prime Minister from Quebec.

I largely support the government's positions on things like the economy. And the social questions should be left alone.

But I'm a Liberal -- and it is perhaps a problem for the Conservative base that I am ok with much of what the Prime Minister is doing.
James Morton

The Task

Thanks to a Catholic friend who sent me this poem for Holy Week -- it is moving regardless of what faith, if any, you follow:


The Task

What shall I do
With mounting frustration,
The waves of desolation?
What shall I do with the restlessness?
The hopelessness,
Repeating without meaning?
Where am I going?
Shall I diverge from the path
Without knowing
Where or why?
These thoughts passing by
In the mind of a man called Simon
Known to be of Cyrene
Were suddenly erased
The day he was faced
With – or forced to – a task
With meaning that cast
The man in long remembrance
To last
To this day forever:
One most magnificent endeavor.

Mary Alban Bouchard CSJ

Bizarre actions show a leader losing his grip

This piece from the Star is, I suspect, more wishful thinking than real.

I do not see Harper has lost his grip on the Conservatives or the country.

That said, I do think he may well decide not to run in the next election, especially if it is before a very significant economic upturn.

Don't underestimate Stephen Harper!!!

Bizarre actions show a leader losing his grip
TheStar.com - Opinion - Bizarre actions show a leader losing his grip

April 07, 2009 Thomas Walkom

There is a crazy, quiet air of desperation around Stephen Harper. On the surface, the Prime Minister is – as always – the personification of iron self-discipline. On television, he speaks in measured tones, his sentences deliberately interspersed with tight little smiles to suggest friendliness.

But the increasingly bizarre actions of his government suggest that this is a façade. In his first term, Harper managed to walk the fine line between pleasing the general public and placating his much more conservative base. Now, with that base uneasy about his interventionist approach to the economy, he flounders.

Almost every week, the government comes up with something new to divert red-meat conservatives away from Ottawa's ballooning deficit.

The most recent was the government's abrupt, and almost certainly unconstitutional decision to prevent Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik from returning home to Canada.

Abdelrazik's story is Kafka-esque. Returning to Sudan in 2003 to visit his mother, the Montrealer was jailed by local authorities as a suspected terrorist.The Sudanese released him after 11 months, declaring that he was innocent. The RCMP say they have nothing against him. Still, he couldn't get on a plane to come home because the U.S. had, by this time, placed him on an international no-fly list (albeit one that does not bar the repatriation of citizens stranded abroad).

Meanwhile, Ottawa said it would issue him temporary travel documents (his passport expired while he was being tortured) if he could arrange a flight. Last week, aided by luminaries such as former UN ambassador Stephen Lewis, Abdelrazik did so. But just as he was due to board his flight home, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon announced that no travel papers would be issued, calling Abdelrazik a security risk.

That's not the first time that Harper's government has played the national security card.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney turned Canada into an international joke last month when he declared British MP George Galloway a security risk and barred him from the country.

Like the Abdelrazik decision, that made sense only as a blatantly political move designed to show Harper's core supporters that, in spite of his new economic heresies, the Prime Minister remains an unrepentant hardliner.

So, too, Defence Minister Peter MacKay's otherwise inexplicable public attack on Russia earlier this year for daring to fly a military plane in international air space near Canada.
Even U.S. military officials found MacKay's tirade unwarranted.

Some have suggested that MacKay did this as part of his failed bid to become NATO secretary-general. If so, it was a doomed gesture.

The more logical explanation is that MacKay, like Cannon and Kenney, was acting under orders to appease the Conservative base and allow control-conscious Harper to reassert his grip.

Because that grip is starting to slip. Some on the right of his party were ready to dump Harper when he almost lost government last fall. His conversion to Keynesian stimulus economics alarmed still more, as has his reversal of fortunes in Quebec and his clumsy feud with former prime minister Brian Mulroney.

Events are starting to spin out of control. Another politician might go with the flow. Stephen Harper's instinct is to hunker down and rebuild the dikes.

Text Messages: Deleted, Not Dead, Your Casual Comments and Stupid Jokes Could Surface Years Later

Text messages last a long time... .

There was recently a discussion among Canadian criminal lawyers about whether or not text messages, or sms's, could be retrieved after being deleted on the sending and receiving mobile devices (cellphones).

The answer is yes:

"There exists a misguided notion among everyday users that text messages are temporary and fleeting like an unrecorded telephone call.

However, the central stop a text message makes between sender and receiver often leaves a lasting impression even if the content was deleted on both the sending and receiving devices.

Text messages are handled by intermediate devices in the path between sending and receiving units, i.e. cell phones. These intermediate devices, called short message service centers, can have the ability to store the data for time periods longer than what is necessary to transmit the message.

While some carriers have recently reported in response to inquiries inspired by the Kilpatrick flap that they retain message content for a short period of time for the purpose of delivery – some citing 72 hours as the maximum – recent court subpoenas and warrants demonstrate that text message retrieval can occur weeks and months after the send dates.

Three recent federal cases have used text message content retrieved from wireless carriers. In United States v. Jones, an illegal drug activity case from 2006, two unnamed wireless carriers responded to a warrant to deliver the content of text messages transmitted by the defendants' cellular telephones.

These text messages covered a time period approximately a year prior to the warrant.In a recent wire fraud case, United States v. Jackson, a court order under 18 U.S.C. § 2703 was used to compel Verizon Wireless to supply text message content about four months after the messages were sent.

In United States v. McCreary, subpoenas were served on MCI (now SkyTel) in 2002, 2003, and 2004 to obtain text messages exchanged by the defendants back to January 2001. MCI returned 1075 pages of text.

Text messaging is clearly a fixture in the spectrum of today's business, government, and personal communications.

With over 262 million wireless subscribers sending over 2.5 billion text messages per day, the increased use of text message evidence in court proceedings is inevitable. What is less clear is whether the wireless industry will respond by implementing data retention policies. After more high-profile cases emerge that involve the use of text message evidence, providers may feel pressure from their customer base to define policies and disclose them.

Text and instant messaging came into popularity by the social use of teenagers and young adults but has quickly bridged the gap to also become an efficient tool for professionals and businesspeople."

Full article here:

http://law.case.edu/student_life/organizations/tilj/content.asp?id=289

James Morton

A blow to Canadian astronomy

The press release below reflects a blow to Canadian visual astronomy. With the closing of the major Toronto area telescope there will be few serious research capacities left in Canada.

Conservatives must reinstate federal funding for world-class observatory

MONTREAL - The Conservatives' lack of vision about federal investments in scientific research is once again evident, this time threatening the future of Canadian astronomers' enviable international reputation, Liberal Critic for Industry, Science and Technology Marc Garneau said today.

"By choosing to cut the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's (NSERC) budget, the Conservatives have put the Mont Megantic Astronomical Observatory in jeopardy," said Mr. Garneau. "This observatory is a priceless tool in the development of tomorrow's great astrophysicists and its loss would be a terrible blow to Canada's scientific community. The Conservatives have a very strange way of marking the 2009 International Year of Astronomy proclaimed by UNESCO."

NSERC has cut the observatory's research infrastructure funding by $140,000 this year, and $325,000 for subsequent years, out of a total budget of $1 million. The observatory also receives funding from the University of Montreal, Laval University, and the Government of Quebec.

The observatory may no longer be able to provide higher education opportunities to hundreds of high-level scientists as it has done for decades, Mr. Garneau added.

"The communities surrounding the observatory have demonstrated they care about this institution, mobilizing to create the International Dark Sky Reserve, a remarkable initiative," added Mr Garneau. "Moreover, the observatory is an important tourist draw that welcomes many amateur astronomers every year."

Mr. Garneau is asking the Harper government to reconsider what it is doing to the future of Canada's scientific community.

"This is just one example of how this visionless government simply does not grasp how science, research and innovation are the foundations of a strong economy and the jobs of tomorrow. They have cut federal funding for research in universities and granting agencies, and Canada's overall public-private investment in research has failed to keep pace with the world.

"The government should be investing more, not less, in science and research. It's how we build a competitive and progressive economy. They need to reverse this very ill-advised decision to cut these budgets," said Mr. Garneau.

James Morton

The Golden Age of Education is long gone ... .

"When I was a boy I had to walk ten miles to school every day, uphill both ways."

It is amazing how every survey shows a consistent fall in the quality of learning and education and yet ... gosh, some decent research gets done and some good books written.

The truth is, there was never a Golden Age where High School students were all well educated. There may have been a time when most High School students going to University had a superior training in Latin and Liberal Arts (candidly I doubt even that -- see the splendid 1940 film "A Chump at Oxford") but if such a time existed it was a time when very very few students went to University and the average level of education was much lower than today.

The world isn't perfect, and education can always be improved, but I teach at the post secondary level and the students are well prepared, hard working and a lot more serious about their schooling than I was.

First-year university students are less prepared and have poorer research skills than students from three years ago, according to a new Ontario-wide survey of faculty and librarians.

Survey respondents reported students had lower writing and numeric skills, lower maturity, and a belief that good grades are an entitlement.

Respondents also said students relied too much on Internet tools, such as Wikipedia, as external research sources.

The survey asked: "Thinking about your own experience over the last three years, do you believe that first-year students are:"

Better prepared -- 2.27 per cent
About the same -- 26.85 per cent
Less prepared -- 55.21 per cent
No opinion -- 15.67 per cent

The survey, which received 2,000 responses from 22 Ontario universities, was conducted by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations.

"It is very troubling that a majority of respondents are witnessing a decline in student preparedness," professor Brian E. Brown, OCUFA's president, said in a press release.

"Study after study shows that success in university is linked to the preparedness of students for the rigours of the university curriculum."

Dancing bears

PASSOVER AND EASTER - TWO ASPECTS OF ONE THEME
By James Morton
The Thornhill/Richmond Hill Liberal


This year Passover and Easter coincide. The two celebrations seem to be quite different, but in fact share a common theme, a theme important not only for Christians and Jews, but for all Canadians.

For us in a multi-faith community like Thornhill, that common theme is especially important.

The story of Passover is well known.

Israel was in slavery in Egypt. Israelis suffered cruel oppression and their situation seemed hopeless. Unexpectedly, and in circumstances that could not have been foreseen by any reasonable person, deliverance came to Israel. Israel was delivered from slavery and became a free and independent nation. In memory of that miraculous deliverance, Jews, to this day, celebrate Passover by eating unleavened bread in memory of their deliverance.

The story of Easter is superficially unrelated to Passover, except that some say the Last Supper was a Passover Seder. On Good Friday, Jesus was crucified in the morning, died mid-day and was buried before sunset.

Jesus' followers, of course, were distraught. They did not understand earlier comments about rebirth and are astonished when Jesus appeared, alive as if reborn, on Sunday. From that Sunday forward Christians celebrated Easter to commemorate the miraculous victory over death.

The two celebrations - Passover and Easter - in some sense represent the same underlying theme. In both cases, humanity faces what seems to be an insurmountable and final tragedy - slavery and death - and in both cases, miraculously, there is a deliverance.

The nation of Israel was reborn through Passover in much the same way as Jesus was reborn as part of the Easter cycle.

It is easy to gloss over differences between religions and there is no doubt that Easter and Passover mean very different things to Jews and Christians.

That said, the theme of miraculous rebirth is one that all of any faith or none can appreciate. The traditional themes of Easter and Passover are the same. Freedom, redemption, justice are values all Canadians strived towards.

The Exodus story of liberation and freedom has a compelling and universal message. "Avadim Hayinu" ("For once we were slaves in Egypt") is a call to all people that freedom must be cherished. The message of Easter follows a similar theme. Jesus was crucified and resurrected, and the redemption of all the faithful occurs through his suffering and death. The Easter message speaks to the role of every person in redeeming the world.

The messages of Passover and Easter, together, speak to all Canadians. We share the same values even if we have different ways of illuminating them.

As former prime minister John Diefenbaker said, "Canada is not a melting pot in which the individuality of each element is destroyed in order to produce a new and totally different element. It is rather a garden into which have been transplanted the hardiest and brightest flowers from many lands, each retaining in its new environment the best of the qualities for which it was loved and prized in its native land."

Recovering money paid under a mistake of fact

Last week's Supreme Court of Canada decision in B.M.P. Global Distribution. Inc. v. Bank of Nova Scotia, 2009 SCC 15 provides a good restatement of the law relating to recovery of money paid under a mistake of fact. The Court writes (para 22):

1. If a person pays money to another under a mistake of fact which causes him to make the payment, he is prima facie entitled to recover it as money paid under a mistake of fact.
2. His claim may however fail if: (a) the payor intends that the payee shall have the money at all events, whether the fact be true or false, or is deemed in law so to intend; (b) the payment is made for good consideration, in particular if the money is paid to discharge, and does discharge, a debt owed to the payee (or a principal on whose behalf he is authorised to receive the payment) by the payer or by a third party by whom he is authorised to discharge the debt; (c) the payee has changed his position in good faith, or is deemed in law to have done

Merry Christmas!

Snow's back ...

Why aren't Passover and Easter always the same time?

If the Last Supper was a Passover Seder (which is debatable) why aren't the two holidays always the same time of year?

It's because of the different calendars -- the Jewish lunar calendar and the complex, albeit mixed solar lunar calendar, way Easter's date is calculated.

Passover is always the 14th day of Nisan on the Jewish calendar, a fixed date.

Easter is always the 1st Sunday following the 1st full moon of Spring, at least for Western Christians.

Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Rite Catholics following the Julian Calendar will never celebrate Easter before Passover.

Israeli Boycott fails badly

Today's protest at a Toronto liquor store was intended to stop or limit sale of Israeli wine.

Far from so doing, a massive sale of Israeli wine took place and there was a sell out of Israeli wine. All the Israeli wine at the specific store was sold out by about 200 pm.

Many members of Liberals for Israel were present buying wine and showing support for Israel.

Hamilton man found guilty of murder by spreading HIV

A sad story to say the least. Does a prosecution like this make sense?

I suppose it does act to show the community repugnance for such irresponsible conduct -- and there is no real reason to suppose Aziga had mental issues making it difficult for him to understand what he was doing.

And we prosecute people for getting drunk, driving and then killing people. Drunk drivers who kill seldom if ever intend to harm anyone -- they are just irresponsible and selfish. Perhaps the same thinking applies here.

But somehow it feels different.

Note the public health orders against him that were breached. To say he was reckless does not express his behavior but the suggest he should have been arrested for breaching health orders might start a slippery slope for others who were HIV positive but behaved properly?

Somehow this prosecution troubles me but I cannot say exactly why. Perhaps readers will assist?

Barbara Brown The Canadian Press
Sat, 4 Apr 2009 HAMILTON

— A Hamilton jury rendered a historic legal verdict Saturday, making Johnson Aziga the first HIV-positive man in Canada to be convicted of murder for recklessly spreading the virus that causes AIDS.

Mr. Aziga, 52, of Hamilton, was found guilty as charged of two counts of first-degree murder and 10 counts of aggravated sexual assault, as well as being convicted on one count of attempted aggravated sexual assault.

The trial, which began in October, is the first in Canada involving someone being charged with lethally infecting partners with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The nine men and three women on the Superior Court jury started deliberations Thursday and sat for about 25 hours before arriving at their verdict around 5:00 p.m
.
...

Mr. Aziga is guilty of endangering the lives of 11 women by having unprotected sex and failing to warn them that he was HIV positive, even though he had been aware of it since 1996 and was under public-health orders to do so.

Seven of the women became infected, two died of AIDS-related cancers and four were exposed but tested negative. One women, identified only as S.B., died of AIDS-related cancers three weeks after police videotaped an interview with her about her relationship with Mr. Aziga.

In the police interview played at trial, S.B. said Mr. Aziga had never told her about his HIV infection during their summer of romance in 2000. "No, he never did. Not at any time," the bed-ridden woman said in a barely audible voice. "Did you ever bring that up?" the officer asks. "Unfortunately not," S.B. replied. In common with other victims, S.B. said she would not have had sex with him had she known he was infected.
...

Mr. Aziga, a native of Uganda and a former employee of Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General, has been in custody since his arrest in August 2003.
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Hamilton Centre Federal Liberal Riding Executive

Helen Wilson (past candidate) Don Drury (Director), Nancy Martin (Secretary - in red), Kathryn Hough (Membership), Allan Wilson (President), John Berlinsky (Treasurer) and Catherine Kallin (Policy Chair)

Lazy Saturday

Mental health, punishment, security and a soft on crime bleeding heart liberal

A man pushes three teens in the path of a subway train. The accused "lived a normal life until a year ago, when he was prescribed medication for depression". And he had "no criminal record, had been experiencing "auditory hallucinations" before the incident."

But the accused, who is locked up in a mental institution and may be a danger to himself, is to stand trial because he likely understood the nature of his actions.

Should society be protected from the accused? You bet! Should the accused be locked up in a secure site? Yup. Should we try the accused for, say, attempt murder? Nope.

The criminal system works (sort of) for people who choose to commit crimes. The threat of punishment deters, for example, the social drinker from having a beer too many and driving home. But it doesn't deter a drug addict who looks to their next fix and that's the only event horizon that matters.

As for someone with "auditory hallucinations", well, let's get real -- is he someone who will rationally weigh his options and decide something in accordance with moral principles? The crime itself, a random attack on unknown teens, discloses madness.

The problem with pointing out these obvious issues is that there is an assumption that any recognition of mental health issues in the law means soft on crime bleeding heart liberals are in charge. That's because there is a confusing between punishment (which assumes a wicked choice was freely taken) and security (which assumes no such thing).

I want a safe society. I don't want to be pushed in front of a subway train. I don't want to see people hit by a train (I saw it once and that's enough to last a lifetime).

That means let's stop the charade of trials and sentences for the mentally disturbed. Let's recognize the reason to lock them away is safety and not morality.

Then, yes, once safety concerns are met, release the prisoner. But until then keep the prisoner secure.

Charges to proceed on alleged subway pusher ANTHONY REINHART Globe and Mail

A Toronto man accused of trying to kill three teenagers by pushing them in front of a subway in February has mental health problems, but they would not have stopped him from appreciating the nature of his actions at the time of the incident, his lawyer said Friday.

This means criminal proceedings are likely to go ahead against Adenir DeOliveira, 47, who is charged with the attempted murder of the three boys at the Dufferin subway station on Feb. 13.

Mr. DeOliveira is alleged to have approached the boys from behind and shoved them towards an approaching train. Two of the boys tumbled to the tracks, and one, who is 14, pulled his friend, 15, to safety under the lip of the platform. The 15-year-old suffered a serious injury to his foot.

Since then, Mr. DeOliveira has been in custody, and for the past several weeks, underwent a psychiatric assessment at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

A 36-page report on the assessment, which will become public once it is entered as evidence at trial, "suggests psychiatric issues, but not a lack of criminal responsibility" on Mr. DeOliveira's part, his lawyer, Ian Kostman, said after a brief appearance at Old City Hall courts today.

"It looks as if we're moving in the direction of a trial," Mr. Kostman said. He did not seek bail and conceded to the Crown's request to keep the accused in jail to await pre-trial proceedings.

Citing the CAMH report, Mr. Kostman also asked that Mr. DeOliveira be monitored while in jail because he "may be a threat to himself." Court previously heard that Mr. DeOliveira, who has no criminal record, had been experiencing "auditory hallucinations" before the incident.

A police source has said the accused, who owns a small lawn-sprinkling business, had lived a normal life until a year ago, when he was prescribed medication for depression. He is next scheduled to appear in court, by video link, on April 9.

James Morton

Proof of damages in a breach of fiduciary duty claim

In a claim for a breach of fiduciary duty the plaintiff must elect as to the measure of damages sought. The plaintiff has the option of seeking a disgorgement of benefits or seeking actual losses.

While there are evidentiary presumptions that run against a defendant who breached a fiduciary duty those presumptions do not mean the plaintiff is relieved of the duty to prove damages. The plaintiff has to show what the benefit disgorged is or show the actual losses.

Thus yesterday's Court of Appeal decision in Reservoir Group Partnership v. 1304613 Ontario Ltd., 2009 ONCA 278 provides:

[3]               The trial judge was alive to the nature of the loss claimed by the appellants, namely, that "[a]s a fiduciary, Mr. Lychy was required to retire from the field of dealing with [clients] for a period of time to afford Reservoir a reasonable period in which to attempt to preserve the client relationship" (at para. 78).  He correctly observed that as the case involved a breach of fiduciary duty, the appellants had the option of claiming either:

(1)              disgorgement of the benefit accruing to the respondent from his breach of duty, or

(2)              recovery of the loss suffered as a result of the breach.

[4]               The appellants elected to claim recovery of the loss. Having done so, it was for the appellants to prove the quantum of the loss, even though they sued for breach of fiduciary duty: Martin v. Goldfarb (1998), 41 O.R. (3d) 161 ( C.A. ) at para. 67.  The appellants did not and could not satisfy that burden or somehow shift it to the respondent simply by proving a breach of fiduciary duty without also proving the loss suffered.
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'Synthetic' or 'artificial' language should be used instead of 'man-made'.

In a move I initially thought was a late April Fools joke the European Parliament has banned the terms 'Miss' and 'Mrs'.

The politically correct rules also mean a ban on Continental titles, such as Madame and Mademoiselle, Frau and Fraulein and Senora and Senorita.

Guidance issued in a new 'Gender-Neutral Language' pamphlet instead orders politicians to address female members by their full name only.

Officials have also ordered that 'sportsmen' be called 'athletes', 'statesmen' be referred to as 'political leaders' and even that 'synthetic' or 'artificial' be used instead of 'man-made'.

The guidance lists banned terms for describing professions, including fireman, air hostess, headmaster, policeman, salesman, manageress, cinema usherette and male nurse. However MEPs are still allowed to refer to 'midwives' as there is no accepted male version of the job description.

The booklet also admits that "no gender-neutral term has been successfully proposed" to replace 'waiter' and 'waitress', allowing parliamentarians to use these words in a restaurant or café.

It has been circulated by Harold Romer, the parliament's secretary general, to the 785 MEPs working in Brussels and Strasbourg. Struan Stevenson, a Scottish Conservative MEP described the guidelines as "political correctness gone mad." ( . . . )

Read about the whole story at:

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4995787/Euro-chiefs-ban-Miss-and-Mrs.html>


James Morton

Some things are wrong, even if they are supported by tradition

Seeing the recent flogging of a young woman in Pakistan for being in public with a man not of her family and the potential law in Afghanistan legalizing forced sex (upon the woman of course) in marriage I was reminded of a story about General Charles Napier (1782-1853).

Upon being told of the practice of "suttee", a wicked tradition in India of burning windows on the funeral pyres of their husbands, Napier said:

"You say it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom; when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your customs. And then we will follow ours."

There are some things that are not acceptable, regardless of tradition.

Three cheers for Windsor

Today's media reports about how awful Windsor is really don't do the city any justice.

Yes, Windsor Ontario has suffered badly in the recession but it is a lovely town with some impressive buildings (see right). And house prices are amazing -- the National Post story about the $38,000 home was a bit overblown, but decent houses are available a very reasonable prices.

Towns like Windsor, Hamilton and Sudbury are very much the backbone of this country. We should be proud of them.

Florida road sign...

Final order

An order that disposes of an issue in a lawsuit is a final order. Thus, even a pleadings motion may be a final order if it disposes of an issue. Today's Court of Appeal decision in Ontario Securities Commission v. McLaughlin, 2009 ONCA 280 sets this point out nicely.

[7]               Both parties submit that the order of the motion judge is a final order. I agree. An order that conclusively disposes of an issue raised by way of defence and thereby deprives a defendant of a substantive right is a final order: Ball v. Donais (1993), 13 O.R. (3d) 322 ( C.A. ). Thus, an order dismissing a motion to plead matters in defence has been held to be a final order: see 385925 Ontario Ltd. v. American Life Insurance (1985), 51 O.R. (2d) 382 (H.C.). In this case, by way of example, Cumming J.'s order refused McLaughlin's request to plead that the plaintiffs' claims should be dismissed because they do not have clean hands or because they were acting pursuant to an illegal conspiracy. The effect of the order is to finally determine that those defences are not available to McLaughlin.
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Michael's shadow

While speaking in Toronto recently Michael cast a long shadow ... .

An inconvenient truth

CSIS will ignore credible information about, say, a gas attack on the Montreal subway because there is a chance the information came about from torture?

What happened is that a witness told an inconvenient truth:

CSIS head says official misspoke on torture

— The head of Canada's spy agency says CSIS does not rely on information extracted through torture. Jim Judd, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, has told a Commons committee that a CSIS official misspoke on the subject earlier this week.

CSIS lawyer Geoffrey O'Brian said Tuesday that the agency will use statements collected through force when lives are at stake.
James Morton

Obama, Mussolini and Fascism

In recent days Fox News in the United States, and some media in Canada, have suggested that Obama's recent economic steps are not socialist but rather fascist. Since our government (and virtually every other government) is following the same course presumably Harper's economic steps are fascist too.

I suspect this is not meant as a positive thing.

Of course, while fascism, and the related but different Nazi movement, are properly seen as unique evils, that does not mean everything they did was wrong. Hitler's War on Cancer was a good thing -- even if done for the wrong reasons.

The reason we see Mussolini as evil is not because of his economic policies. Similarly, Hitler's economic policies, before the War at least, are not the reason he is hated to this day. Take away the racial policies, the aggressive war, the attacks on freedom of speech and assembly, the termination of democratic and religious rights, the limits on civil rights, the restoration of the death penalty for minor crimes and the attacks on the disabled and Hitler wasn't such a bad leader; put otherwise, fascism tried to fix the economy in ways not very different from FDR.

Economically, fascism preferred state control to laissez faire. Labour and capital had work together under the direction of the state. The state was the ultimate power and needed to govern the economy for the benefit of the nation as embodied in the corporate state.

For myself, I believe free markets are better than the state at regulating supply and demand but I recognize sometimes the markets need state control. That said, take out the word fascism and the economic concept in the last paragraph is not unreasonable.

Calling Obama's economics fascist is merely name calling.

A cause for an early election?

Michael Ignatieff was very clear on Wednesday that the Liberal Party would oppose legislation ending the gun registry.

None of the other opposition Parties will support such legislation.

So if the Conservatives try to pass the legislation it will fail -- but is it a matter of confidence? An election over the gun registry? I cannot believe the Prime Minister would allow his government to fall over that -- although I'd gladly fight an election on the issue -- especially with guns and gangs being a major problem (not that gangs use a lot of long guns but the optics are there). What's more, there is solid police support for the registry.

Anyway, see the Globe story below:

Tories move to kill long-gun registry in Senate
JIM BROWN

The Canadian Press

— The Conservative government, in an abrupt shift of parliamentary strategy, has introduced a bill in the Senate aimed at abolishing the federal long-gun registry.

The move will likely allow Prime Minister Stephen Harper to put some distance between himself and Tory back bencher Garry Breitkreuz, who until now had been allowed to carry the ball on gun control through a private member's bill in the House of Commons.

That bill came under fire from critics who noted it would go far beyond the long-standing Tory promise to eliminate the requirement to register all hunting rifles and shotguns.

The Breitkreuz bill proposed additional changes to the registration and licensing system that would have affected the rules for handguns and other semi-automatic weapons.
James Morton

D'Arcy McGee

A federation of feeling must precede a federation of fact.
James Morton

Alf Apps is to be President

There's been some silly April Fools jokes going around but there is no doubt that Alf Apps will be the next National President. Good for Alf -- KUDOS!

The wild bear prepares to hunt ... .

Freedom for Flocke !

The dream of freedom could soon become true for Flocke and Rasputin. The “International consortium for appropriate habitat for wild animals” (CISAN), with headquarters in Paris, filed adoption papers for Nuremberg`s polar bears in order to set them free at a wild-animal-resort. The group has bought the island Melee, near the Galapagos Islands, and has established a wild-animal-reserve. Besides rhinos, tigers and other endangered species, Flocke and Rasputin shall move in there soon.

“Because of their age, both cubs are still fully capable to develop their wild insticts”, states the animal welfare activists`note. Already the zoo has anounced its cooperation with their experts. With regard to the not so arctic temperatures at Melee, a CISAN spokes person explained that the climate change will soon provide for changed weather conditions around the world. As both of Nuremberg`s cubs are used to european temperatures, nothing is in the way for a release into the wild.

Also, according to the consortuim, the Galapagos region, which always had an important place in evolution, is really predestinated for a reintroduction into the wild of endangered species. Starting in autumn 2009, the 35 square kilometer measuring island shall be populated with animals that formerly lived in captivity .

As if Rasputin had caught scent of his nearing freedom, he tried very energetically to reach the leaves of the newly fenced-in trees. “There won`t be any limitations like this for the bears at Melee” , a CISAN spokes person answered the BR-online`s telephonic request. At Melee, the two bears are allowed to hunt, to swim and to frolic around to their heart`s content and within some months, the cubs will have lost their confidence into people.

Until Flocke and Rasputin are ready for a move into freedom, they have to be trained for a release into the wild. To pave the way, they will be trained to hunt ducks during these coming weeks.