Every Canadian has the fundamental right to think and believe freely. But an Ontario court has sided with the suppression of the individual
Imagine being a feminist physician unshakable in your conviction that girls and women must be protected from patriarchal oppression. Now picture being asked to assist with a sex-selection abortion because daddy doesn’t want a female child and mother consents to his wishes. Up until May 15, reasonable Canadians would concur that you had every right…
An Ontario court decision reveals a vision that’s equal, equitable and a la carte – and defies doctors freedom of conscience
This is one of those times I’m glad I’m not a family doctor. Or, more specifically, a family doctor (any medical doctor, really) who objects to certain procedures based on my conscience. Because if I was, and if I was working in Ontario, I’d find myself choosing between my career, and all I’ve worked for,…
The court decision against the pipeline veered away from objective legal analysis into opinions designed to justify preconceived biases
For the second time in two years, three judges with the Federal Court of Appeal struck down a crucially important oil export pipeline project that had undergone years of regulatory review. The approval of Northern Gateway by the former federal government of Conservative Stephen Harper was struck down in 2016. That was after Enbridge spent…
A legal win for the plaintiff would mean money for lawyers and a marginal payout for drivers. And it could cripple the business
SkipTheDishes driver Charleen Pokorik wants a different job. More precisely, she wants to do the same job but for the company to cover everything. Its founders left jobs like that to form the company, but she won’t do the same to be paid in the manner she wants. The result is a class action lawsuit…
The Supreme Court decision reeks of judicial activism and defies liberty and freedom
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 7-2 against Trinity Western University’s proposed new law school. The majority opinion believed it was “proportionate and reasonable” for TWU to limit religious rights and values, so that potential LGBT students could have open access to study law on the campus. With all due respect to the highest…
A Supreme Court ruling that there’s no ‘constitutional guarantee of free trade’ will stifle both competition and lower prices for consumers
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that provinces have the right to erect interprovincial tariff barriers. That’s bad news for Canadian consumers and the health of the national economy. It is, however, a relief for provinces that for years have allowed fiscal priorities to supersede consumer choice and common economic sense. In 2012, Gerard…
The Law Society of Ontario is asking divisive, intrusive and shameful questions of its members. It needs to stop
Lawyers in Ontario (of which I am one) have until March 31 to file our annual reports for 2017 with the law society. This usually routine procedure has become controversial because we’re now required to tick a box declaring whether we abide by a “Statement of Principles” (which we’re required to draft) incorporating an obligation…
Children's aid society removed children from care because the foster parents wouldn't lie about the Easter Bunny
Much of the media coverage of the legal decision involving Derek and Frances Baars and the Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton has treated it as a quirky story about a Christian family versus the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. In fact, the 61-page decision by Justice A.J. Goodman is a blistering critique of the aid…
The PM seems committed to adding to the differences between Indigenous people and the mainstream, instead of trying to dismantle a divisive system
A jury’s recent acquittal of a white man for the killing of an Indigenous man highlights some of the deepest divisions in this country. One of those divisions is between people living on reserves, and the farmers and townspeople living in the vicinity of those reserves. The Red Pheasant First Nation, where Colten Boushie lived…
What part of ‘Don’t delete government emails’ did these Ontario cops not understand?
Deleted government emails have been hot news in Ontario since former premier Dalton McGuinty’s aides David Livingston and Laura Miller were charged with deliberately destroying records relating to cancelled gas-fired power plants. Now an unrelated Ontario trial has revealed another alleged incident of deliberately deleted government emails. In late 2015, government employees and police raided…
Imagine being a feminist physician unshakable in your conviction that girls and women must be protected from patriarchal oppression. Now picture being asked to assist with a sex-selection abortion because daddy doesn’t want a female child and mother consents to his wishes. Up until May 15, reasonable Canadians would concur that you had every right…
