tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:51:27 +0000http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)Blogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-6238886062685515632Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:34:00 +00002009-09-25T06:48:34.652-07:00There were two articles in the Globe and Mail today bearing on the issue of democratic reform. The first of these (a cover story no less) speaks to legislation being drafted to address long delayed changes to the distribution of seats in the House of Commons. This re-allocation of seats will result in a move toward more even representation across Canada (that is, a regime which has something http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/Ad-yUOesbT0/democratic-reform.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)1http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/09/democratic-reform.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-8761546491411767035Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:38:00 +00002009-09-24T06:14:21.168-07:00The British Columbia Supreme Court brought an end to the polygamy charges against the residents of Bountiful yesterday without a trial. As a result the courts have avoided dealing with the merits of the question of whether or not Canada's polygamy laws can withstand the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The decision (which can be found here) instead focuses on the question of whether or not the http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/tpKGAFFgzSE/polygamy-case-ends-not-with-bang.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/09/polygamy-case-ends-not-with-bang.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-6446615385661099645Sun, 09 Aug 2009 05:28:00 +00002009-08-08T23:00:59.879-07:00In its very last judgment the House of Lords again wrestled with the question of assisted suicide. The Court had earlier determined (in common with Canada) that the bar on assisted suicide was lawful but now had to deal with an ancillary question -- that is whether or not the Director of Public Prosecutions (the head of the English prosecution service) had to give some guidance as to when it http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/btagN9zngzg/assisted-suicide-debate-continues.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)1http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/08/assisted-suicide-debate-continues.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-4699866458575325868Sun, 09 Aug 2009 03:55:00 +00002009-08-08T21:43:48.615-07:00After an absence of several months I come back to my blog -- and so a revival. Now to comment on an end.For several hundred years the House of Lords has stood (in the guise of its Judicial Committee) as the highest court in the United Kingdom. Its alter ego, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council equally stood as the de facto highest court in the British Empire and Commonwealth (although http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/_N_pw0P17N4/revival-and-end.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/08/revival-and-end.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-3593428813352743822Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:16:00 +00002009-02-11T05:29:24.818-08:00The teachers' union recently lost a battle with the provincial government over whether or not they could strike 'mid-contract' to protest political matters. This lost battle for the teachers may, however, be a good sign for their ongoing battle with the provincial over election oriented issue advertising. The court held that the right to strike can be limited despite the fact that it is an http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/aWwSrvFoceQ/teachers-and-right-to-political-protest.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/02/teachers-and-right-to-political-protest.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-3946746061276087278Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:19:00 +00002009-02-10T12:28:17.443-08:00The British Columbia Supreme Court struck down British Columbia's fish farm regulatory regime yesterday holding that laws that manage things that are swimming in the oceans, have gills, have fins and defecate into the ocean amount to laws managing fisheries (even if the fish are in a large pen). The little difficulty that this posed for the Court is that the power to pass laws that are designed http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/5uys8jt8zfc/fun-with-fish-farms.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/02/fun-with-fish-farms.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-323789516442115070Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:47:00 +00002009-02-10T06:21:21.450-08:00Courts often recognize that the time has come to get ahead of a building problem and the Ontario Court of Appeal did just that recently by forcing a new debate about secret bail hearings. As our law presently stands the press are banned from reporting any of the information presented at such hearings and are essentially kept to reporting that 'the court denied (or allowed) the Crown's request http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/ZlDDDa7I0OA/bail-public-confidence-and-gun-violence.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/02/bail-public-confidence-and-gun-violence.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-5788268791711943750Sun, 01 Feb 2009 14:16:00 +00002009-02-01T06:35:04.079-08:00There are two reasons why spending public money now is a good idea and creates no new deficits. I argue that despite what all the naysayers say, we are not burdening our grandchildren by doing this spending (though we may have by buying that flatscreen TV).First, over the last thirty years we burdened (or really most of us were burdened) with a deficit in order to allow taxation to be http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/ZUQ5tWq77Oc/infrastructure-now-is-no-new-deficeit.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/02/infrastructure-now-is-no-new-deficeit.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-8674227046615684393Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:08:00 +00002009-02-01T06:44:39.555-08:00Thanks to the Federal Court and some bad debts it looks like newfoundland folksong lovers and Great Big Sea are going to have to change the words to an an old classic. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/FKrVYB0AEFo/lukeys-boat-is-painted-red.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/01/lukeys-boat-is-painted-red.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-2865838032952406453Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:55:00 +00002009-01-25T08:03:33.342-08:00Two interesting takes on remorse and recognition of guilt this week. Frost/Nixon hit the movie theatres here in Victoria (yes I realize that we are behind the times). There the central plot question (aside from whether or not David Frost would go bankrupt) was "would Nixon show remorse and contrition for what he did?" The pivotal moment of the show for the Nixon character is when he realizes thathttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/KZ-E6_CoXWk/remorse.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/01/remorse.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-6138410428651544717Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:20:00 +00002009-01-18T07:52:56.361-08:00Tom Flanagan, Stephen Harper's mentor and number one fan, continues to be outraged by the prospect of the House of Commons thwarting Harper's agenda and possibly replacing it his government with a coalition (an increasingly unlikely prospect given Mr. Ignatieff's silence on the matter). He recently wrote a column in the Glove (on January 9, 2009) suggesting that the mere prospect of a coalition http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/5SG3kMbnOUQ/popular-mandates-and-getting-worst-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/01/popular-mandates-and-getting-worst-of.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-6349952054053841517Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:16:00 +00002009-01-11T17:23:21.294-08:00This year I have resolved to read twenty-six Canadian books that I have not read before. My intention is for most of these to be novels, but I want to leave some wiggle room for politics or biography (as I expect there will be a few good pieces of each coming out in this year, given all of the excitement of last). As a part of keeping myself on track, my plan is to write a brief comment on eachhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/7Km8iR6udog/alligator-lisa-more-cdn-book-repor-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/01/alligator-lisa-more-cdn-book-repor-1.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-5397287693500994210Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:15:00 +00002009-01-06T04:34:37.602-08:00Today is, in the Roman Catholic cycle of holy days of obligation, the feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany notionally commemorates the revelation of Jesus to the Magi (which under the proper approach did not happen on Christmas Day) and so, symbolically, to the gentile world. As children we always knew this as 'Old Christmas Day' and it marked the formal end of all matters Christmas. The tree was downhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/730pU9OQ3lc/epiphany-and-dead.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)1http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2009/01/epiphany-and-dead.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-1942806855941651020Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:17:00 +00002008-12-09T06:45:01.315-08:00Norman Spector made a very bad suggestion in the Globe and Mail today, namely to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to sort out the strength of the Coalition's claim to government. This would embroil the Supreme Court of Canada in an entirely political question. This would do nothing to settle the feelings of the losers. This would forever tarnish the reputation of the Supreme Court. This is an http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/YCsQj4YKiQc/norman-spectors-very-bad-idea.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/12/norman-spectors-very-bad-idea.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-6506728124048059491Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:50:00 +00002008-12-08T06:04:38.724-08:00Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United KingdomDid you know these were the opening words of our Constitution?Did you know that our Constitution does not mention the office of http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/FbRNqKNy5ys/constitution-similar-in-principle-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/12/constitution-similar-in-principle-to.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-3149989032434136615Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:05:00 +00002008-11-27T07:09:19.219-08:00The Supreme Court of Canada today granted leave to appeal and expedited the appeal and cross-appeals of everyone involved in the ongoing fracas over how the Virk and Basi trial should proceed. The issue at this stage is the degree to which the Crown is able to shelter confidential informants from scrutiny (even of the most basic sort) by the defence.It is extremely rare for the Supreme Court of http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/59rBaS3LCXE/legislature-raids-go-to-ottawa.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/11/legislature-raids-go-to-ottawa.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-3720539448973449532Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:17:00 +00002008-11-23T05:17:18.187-08:00The courts have struggled for a quarter century over whether the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has empowered them to compel the government to enact a social welfare system. This fight is now being played out over the rights of the homeless to protect themselves from the rain and the rights of the citizenry of Victoria to control the use of the public parks. The outcome of this case together withhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/1DNs9k9LyU4/homelessness-medicare-parks-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)2http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/11/homelessness-medicare-parks-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-3965919859777754500Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:29:00 +00002008-11-19T03:41:31.427-08:00The public was given an interesting peak into what is clearly a nasty civil war going on at the BCMA this week as the British Columbia Supreme Court brought an end to quasi-discipline process the Board of Directors was pursuing against one of its own.The case is interesting from a legal point of view as it shows an increasingly willingness on the part of the courts to intervene in the internal http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/RyV8FAeJ-4o/civil-war-at-bcma.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/11/civil-war-at-bcma.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-5803054026070177317Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:52:00 +00002008-11-18T05:41:27.663-08:00Rex Murphy has been a fixture at CBC since the 1970's. I remember him starting to find his voice as an overinflated thesaurus on the local CBC broadcasts in Newfoundland. Since then he has gone on to ever greater podiums from which ever more polysyllabic orations can be poured out over the ever grateful Canadian masses. The latest target of this silver tongued pedant is Christine Lynch (Globe andhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/x7bCkWZrCgU/rex-murphy-and-human-rights.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)1http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/11/rex-murphy-and-human-rights.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-7162604470051720380Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:44:00 +00002008-11-18T04:51:44.292-08:00I took a few months off from blogging as I went through the process of shifting jobs and generally getting re-oriented to my new work environment. Moving a fully operational law practice from one firm to another has been somewhat more exciting in terms of the amount of work involved than originally anticipated (I think it could be best described as dismantling an airplane and then re-assembling http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/unggmrGLgQA/blogging-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)1http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/11/blogging-again.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-2793679034553159752Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:13:00 +00002008-08-19T06:09:09.920-07:00Tony Clement continues his attack on the safe injection site on Vancouver's East Hastings Street by now attacking the ethics of the doctors who have the termerity to support the continued operation of the site. Here is a little sample of Mr. Clement's thoughtfull and insightfull words: "The supervised injection site undercuts the ethic of medical practice and sets a debilitating example for all http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/1aYcp8OHh5Y/conservatives-and-insite.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)2http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/08/conservatives-and-insite.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-8979839257854269404Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:07:00 +00002008-08-19T05:13:17.739-07:00Things have been quiet here lately. No posts since July 11 and scattered posts before then. Well now I will get back on track and limber old the old writing muscles and provide a few unsolicited opinions to my small group of readers (who maybe I will get to grow).The reasons for my absence are multiple but largely boil down to the fact that it is only possible to juggle so many balls at the samehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/ABrvOstVHt0/holidays-over.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/08/holidays-over.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-4610994360226412324Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:29:00 +00002008-07-11T07:21:24.115-07:00Jeffrey Simpson writes in today's Globe and Mail that the time may have come to ask whether educational outcomes for on-reserve aboriginal people may better be linked to the existence of the reserve system rather than the funding or governance of on-reserve schools. As is often the case when questions like this are asked no specific feature of the 'reserve system' is identified nor is any http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/B7ktCwf9tPo/reserve-system.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)0http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/07/reserve-system.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-6241780190988157825Thu, 29 May 2008 12:44:00 +00002008-05-29T06:12:34.073-07:00The decision to grant the Insite clinic in Vancouver a reprieve is now available at the British Columbia Supreme Court website. There is no doubt that this decision will be controversial but for anybody who has been reading the cases or, for that matter reading the headlines, it should come as no real surprise. The Supreme Court of Canada has dealt with a couple of issues over the last few years http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/qOkF3CIyvZc/details-of-insite-decision.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)2http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/05/details-of-insite-decision.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2888651312434234861.post-5561180640413621576Wed, 28 May 2008 10:37:00 +00002008-05-28T03:44:01.295-07:00The British Columbia Supreme Court rendered its decision with respect to the Insite safe injection site yesterday, granting it an effective exemption from Canada's narcotic control laws. The immediate effect of this decision is to extent the life of the Insite Clinicuntil mid-2009, presumably until the Federal government can craft a Charter compliant law governing such facilities.While the http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ThoughtsFromTheWesternEdge/~3/HD24ly--lKY/insite-clinic-decision-early-news.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Robert Janes)1http://rjmjanes.blogspot.com/2008/05/insite-clinic-decision-early-news.html