It's been 3 days since Premier Danielle Smith dropped a bomb on Alberta's transgender community, and I'm still reeling. I'm alternating between being angry with the government, and grieving for the youth that will be most deeply affected by these policies. Before I dive into a deeper analysis of what
Continue readingTag: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Cracked Crystal Ball II: A Muddled Mess
So, this past week, Federal Court justice Mosley issued a ruling on a group of cases attacking the Federal Government's use of the Emergencies Act as somehow illegal/unconstitutional/whatever. Let me start off by saying that I've read a good number of rulings from Canadian judges, and usually they're pretty readable.
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: What Exactly Is A “Broad Coalition Of Conservatives”?
This morning, on the news one of the headline stories was about the CPC policy convention, where they are going to debate a range of policies, and two of them are outright eliminationist anti-transgender crap. (We’ll come back to that) One of the party talking heads said some inane drivel
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: No, Peterson is Not Being “Persecuted” For His Politics
Over at National Post, we have one of Peterson’s lawyers arguing that the Ontario College of Psychologists is “succumbing to the woke mob”, and persecuting him for his politics. Nothing could be further from the truth. A casual review of the complaints against Peterson reveals gems expressing clinical opinions about
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Something for Doug Ford to remember: Once in a while when you pull the cork from a bottle a genie pops out!
The Conservative movement’s vast army of online trolls has been strangely silent about the right of poorly paid Ontario education workers to negotiate a decent salary for themselves. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, encountering a stiff breeze (Photo: Premier of Ontario Photography/Flickr). Funny that, Conservatives being such lovers of Canadian rights
Continue readingAlberta Politics: On the 40th anniversary of proclamation of the Constitution Act, Conservative distrust of the Charter still runs deep
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the proclamation of the Constitution Act, 1982 – including, importantly, our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The English-language version of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Image: Government of Canada). Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Bill C4 – Conversion Therapy Passed – Now What?
To my surprise, Bill C4 made it through parliament in record time. Personally, I think this is a good thing. However, I also know that Social Conservatives and Gender Critical factions will ally with each other to challenge the legislation in the courts. I suspect there was an agreement
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Quebec’s Bill 21 Has It All Wrong
I am writing this, not because Quebec’s “An Act respecting the laicity of the State”, commonly referred to as Bill 21, goes against Canadian values and violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which it does, but because it’s provisions will not achieve it’s supposed purpose of a secular
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Calgary judge makes short work of bid for injunction to block COVID-19 restrictions
A Calgary superior court judge yesterday made short work of the bid by the so-called Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms to get an emergency injunction blocking public health restrictions on activities likely to exacerbate the spread of COVID-19 during the holiday season. In a hearing that could be watched online,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: 10 months in the life of Jason Kenney: from bitter foe of illegal protests to fierce defender of protesters’ rights, or something
What a difference a year makes! Not even a year: Ten months in the life of Jason Kenney. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Ten months ago, blockades in support of opposition by members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation to pipeline construction on ancestral lands in north-central British
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Canada, keep your eye on Alberta — it’s not going to be pretty, but it should be instructive
You can just tell it’s likely to be a crazy week in Alberta politics. To understand just how crazy, you have to think about what the Kenney Government is noisily focusing on, and what is actually happening. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). In the Legislature, Premier Jason
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Apparently desperate, health minister tells College of Physicians and Surgeons it can’t let doctors quit
Tyler Shandro’s on fire! Not in a good way, though. There was a strong signal yesterday that Alberta’s health minister has completely lost control of the fight he’s picked with the province’s physicians. Yesterday’s AMA newspaper advertisement (Image: Alberta Medical Association). It turns out that while the minister and the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Union of Provincial Employees goes to court to challenge UCP law that criminalizes public protest
It was inevitable that sooner or later someone would challenge the United Conservative Party Government’s so-called Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, which appears on its face to include patently unconstitutional attacks on fundamental rights protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In the event, the challenge was sooner and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s Bill 1 is bad law, bad theatre, and an unconstitutional attack on the fundamental rights of citizens
If the passage of Bill 1 by the Alberta Legislature last month demonstrates anything, it’s the contempt in which Premier Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party hold the rule of law. Mr. Kenney and his well-behaved UCP caucus know that Canada’s Constitution is the supreme law of the land.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s self-selecting separation survey — unscientific, biased, tendentious, and a poor use of tax dollars
Is the Kenney Government trying to persuade Albertans, one step at a time, that separation from Canada would be a good idea? How else do we explain the gratuitous inclusion of a question giving respondents the opportunity to express support for Alberta’s separation from Canada in an online questionnaire published
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Unconstitutional anyone? If Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell is doing her job, she’ll refuse to sign Bill 1 into law
Bill 1 is a breathtakingly terrible piece of legislation. The bill, given first reading in the Alberta Legislature on Tuesday, is called the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act. Edmonton lawyer Simon Renouf (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Just for starters, in case you missed it, Bill 1 appears to be intended to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Shut down your ‘anti-Alberta campaigns’ inquiry or the courts will shut it for you, tiny group warns Alberta government
OTTAWA – Well, one thing’s already clear, there’s no way the mighty Kenney Government will shut down its so-called inquiry into “anti-Alberta energy campaigns” on the say so of Progress Alberta, a small Edmonton-based research and activist organization. That said, the day may come when the government’s leaders wish they
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta union leaders summoned to provocative weekend ‘consultation’ by Kenney Government
Alberta union leaders have been summoned to a “labour relations consultation” next weekend in Edmonton at which they will be informed how Premier Jason Kenney’s government plans to “protect workers from being forced to fund political parties and causes.” The announcement of the one-hour meetings came in an email from
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Will the UCP’s scheme to restrict reproductive rights play in Ponoka? Maybe not …
Bill 207, which if it was honestly titled would have been called an Act to Restrict Reproductive and Other Rights in Alberta, does not seem to be playing particularly well, even in Ponoka. Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party stirred up a hornet’s nest with this sneaky bill — disingenuously entitled
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The ‘most pro-life Legislature in decades’ gets ready to make its first move to restrict reproductive rights
Does anyone recall when Cameron Wilson, political action director of the “Wilberforce Project,” previously known as Pro-Life Alberta, bragged that “if the UCP wins the upcoming election, then we will have the most pro-life Legislature in decades, and maybe ever”? That was only in February this year, a century or
Continue reading