Last week, the feds granted BC a 3-year exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act decriminalizing the possession of up to 2.5 grams of certain illegal drugs for personal use. Judging by Jason Kenney’s response, you’d think Breaking Bad had set up shop next door. Leaving aside Kenney’s hypocritical
Continue readingTag: law
Things Are Good: Space Lawyer Protected Us From Mercury
Exciting personal space law news! In 2018 a whistleblower told me about a new satellite thruster that used mercury, the poisonous liquid metal, as a propellant, and that it would inevitably fall back to earth when used, thus beginning my Space Lawyer arc — Kevin H Bell ???? (@KevinHBell) March
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Traffic Ticket and a Phone Call
On Feb 25, 2022, Premier Kenney issued a misleading press release setting out his rationale for a Cabinet shuffle. Two cabinet ministers, who should have been (back) benched a long time ago, will swap ministries. Kaycee Madu will “step aside” from his role as Minister of Justice and Solicitor
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Quick comment on the Illegal Occupation & Blockades
Ms Soapbox is under the weather, as such there will be no blog post today. I expect to be fully functional next week, at least physically. It will take longer than that to restore my mental equilibrium given the ongoing mismanagement of the occupation of Ottawa, the blockade at Coutts,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Rule of Law – Alfred de Zayas
Making laws is never easy and Alfred de Zayas prescribes a mix that places human rights and dignity at the forefront. Our laws need to have simple and complex versions readily available to the public to improve our understanding of how the society we exist in works. “We also have
Continue readingScripturient: Collingwood and Copyright Law
I was disappointed to learn that, after my exposing our mayor for breaking copyright law on his campaign website (by unauthorized publication of copyright material), that the town itself has probably also done so. I wasn’t surprised that our hypocritical mayor ignored our laws despite being a lawyer himself (look
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Kenney and the Autocrat’s Handbook
The Alberta Legislature ended the 2021 Spring Session on a particularly disturbing note. Members of the Opposition asked Jason Kenney to apologize for his role in pushing the niqab ban, a policy that contributed to growing Islamophobia, while he was a federal cabinet minister. Instead of an apology, Kenney stood
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Fighting Racism in Kenney’s Alberta
Sometimes it pays to sit through a 53 minute 42 second Kenney press conference because something unexpected will happen at the very end. In this case it happened at the 46:24 mark. Last week in the wake of the horrific attack on the Afzaal family in London, premier Kenney and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Alternative Solutions to Calling the Police
Respect for the police continues to erode due to questionable, immoral, and illegal police behaviour. Just this week in Ontario, police breaking the law ruined an entire case taking down a mob gambling operation. It’s also impossible to ignore the abhorrent police actions highlighted by BLM and similar organizations. So
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Easter in Alberta
Whether you observe Easter, Passover, or the rising of the first full moon after the spring equinox, this is the time of year when we emerge from the gloom of winter with renewed hope for the spring. Sadly, some of us are crawling out of a pit that is darker
Continue readingThings Are Good: Carbon Pricing in Canada is Constitutional
A few years ago the federal government in Canada started charging for carbon wastage by people and companies. The 2018 Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act was passed to ensure that every province in Canada is doing the bare minimum to avoid catastrophic climate change. This led Conservative leaders of a
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Mr Kenney Responds to the Supreme Court of Canada
“Parliament acted within its jurisdiction.” – Supreme Court of Canada Reference re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act On Mar 25 Premier Kenney issued a statement followed by a press conference to respond to the Supreme Court of Canada’s (SCC) ruling that the federal carbon tax is constitutional. My first thought
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Kenney’s (Bombastic) Response to Biden Cancelling KXL’s Permit
On January 20 when the rest of the world was congratulating President Biden on his inauguration, Jason Kenney was attacking Biden’s character and threatening trade wars because Biden revoked Trump’s executive order approving KXL. Not satisfied that he’d made his point, Kenney appeared on Fox TV and other media outlets
Continue readingThings Are Good: Former ICC Judge Wants to Criminalize Ecocide
Florence Mumba, a former judge of the International Criminal Court, is working hard to make ecological destruction a criminal act. Mumba and a whole team of international lawyers are focusing on getting legal definitions for ecocide and want to eventually charge people, governments, and corporations that commit massive ecological destruction.
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Auditor General’s Report: $1.6 Billion is NOT a Rounding Error
By a miraculous coincidence the Auditor General’s report on the Kenney government’s first year in office landed smack in the middle of the American election. Well, the election is over. Mr Biden won. Agriculture minister Devin Dreeshen can put away his MAGA hat and we can turn our attention back
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Thoughts on the Death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg
US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday Sept 18, 2020 at the age of 87. She was appointed to the court by President Bill Clinton in 1993 and had been battling cancer in one form or another since 1999. She vowed to remain on the bench as
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Decision Day for Dr Day
Mr Justice Steeves’ decision in Cambie Surgeries Corporation v. British Columbia (Attorney General) reads like a Scott Turow novel, albeit at a slower pace. It includes all the major elements of a legal thriller: a law suit with white hats and black hats, ordinary people desperately searching for ways to
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Alberta’s School Re-Entry Plan: It is what it is
These are unprecedented times, and they’re not being made any easier by Jason Kenney’s callous justification for his government’s half-baked School Re-Entry Plan, or Dr Hinshaw’s Order 33-2020 which was intended to clarify questions around masking and social distancing in schools but muddied the waters even more. “It’s inevitable” On
Continue readingScripturient: Brandolini’s Law
Ever had the frustrating experience trying to correct someone’s obviously un-factual post or meme on Facebook? And found yourself in a swamp of comments all telling you you’re wrong, an idiot, it’s just your opinion, it worked for my friend so it’s true, or you don’t know anything, followed by
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Personal Sovereignty, Body Sovereignty – The Foundation Of A Free Society
All our laws rest on constitutional law. All constitutional law rests on habeus corpus, and “the Great Writ”, the Magna Carta. The central axiom and ultimate foundation of all rule of law, all constitutional law, and all human rights, rests upon the principle which was set down and re-affirmed in the
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