A scorecard of the Harper government’s wins and losses at the Supreme Court of Canada.
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/scoc-harper-gov-scorecard-741324
In one of starkest examples in Canadian history of two branches of government openly turning against one another, the red robed members Supreme Court of Canada have spent months systematically shooting down virtually every issue the Conservatives hold dear. Court boosters say the Tories simply have a fondness for unconstitutional legislation. Harperites, meanwhile, allege that they are the target of a weird vendetta from their down-the-street neighbour. The National Post takes a look at the highlights.
TIMELINE:
LOSS: Prostitution
RULING: Unanimous | Canada’s Prostitution laws were written long before Ottawa’s streets were paved, but just before Christmas, 2013, the Court found them unconstitutional and ordered the Harper Government to draw up new ones. A few months later, the Tories’ answer was a dense package of laws that effectively kept prostitution illegal anyway.
CP/Adrian Wyld
March 2014
LOSS: SCC nominee Marc Nadon
RULING: 6-1 The ugliest Supreme Court-PMO spat yet was fought over Marc Nadon, the bowtied federal court judge Harper wanted to take Quebec’s seat on the court. Nadon wasn’t technically eligible, so the Tories added a few lines to an omnibus budget bill that made him eligible. The Court didn’t buy it—leading to accusations from the PMO that since Day One, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin had been running a clandestine campaign to keep Nadon off her bench.
CP/Adrian Wyld
April 2014
LOSS: Time-served sentencing
RULING: Unanimous | The Tories’ 2009 Truth in Sentencing Act collared the ability of judges to give offenders sentencing discounts by multiplying the days spent in pre-trial custody. One day in a pre-trial detention centre, for instance, could equal as much as three days served of a sentence. The Supreme Court overturned the Tories’ mandatory 1-1 policy, arguing that it violated the “sentencing principles of parity and proportionality.”
CP/Adrian Wyld
April 2014
LOSS: Senate reform
RULING: Unanimous | For reasons that are becoming increasingly clear, the Tories had their sights set on corralling some of the awesome power of the Upper Chamber through measures such as indirect elections or term limits for senators. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that the Prime Minister couldn’t do anything to the Senate without provincial assent. The dreamed-of goal to destroy the Senate altogether, meanwhile, would require a near-impossible vote of unanimity from the provinces.Canadians were “essentially stuck” with the Senate thanks to the Supreme Court, said Harper.
CP files
March 2014
LOSS: SCC nominee Marc Nadon
LOSS: Prostitution
LOSS: SCC nominee Marc Nadon
LOSS: Time-served sentencing
LOSS: Senate reform
WIN: Terrorism-related security certificates
LOSS: Aboriginal title
LOSS: Assisted suicide
WIN: Destruction of gun registry data
LOSS: Mandatory minimums for gun crimes
2013
2014
2015
2016
Dec.
April
Aug.
Dec.
April
Feb.
June
Oct.
Feb.
SCORECARD:
Mandatory minimums for gun crimes – LOSS
April, 2015.
RULING: 6-3
Commit a crime with a prohibited gun, said the 2008 Tackling Violent Crime Act, and you’d get an automatic three years in jail. On Tuesday, the Court struck down the measure, calling it “cruel and unusual” punishment.
Destruction of gun registry data – WIN
March, 2015
RULING: 5-4
As the Tories shredded the records of the abolished long gun registry, Quebec sued to keep their own gun records on file. The Supreme Court denied the request, in what was deemed a rare moment of accord between the PMO and the SCOC.
Assisted suicide – LOSS
February, 2015
RULING: Unanimous
A case brought by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association garnered the somewhat counter-intuitive ruling that Canada’s laws against assisted death violated Canadians’ rights to “life, liberty and security.” As they’ve done before on other issues, the court issued Harper with homework to draw up some assisted dying laws in the next 12 months.
Aboriginal title – LOSS
June, 2014
RULING: Unanimous
B.C.’s Tsilhqot’in First Nation essentially sued for official recognition of their Aboriginal title to a large swath of B.C., and got it. The Harper government didn’t have a dog in this fight (it was a B.C. government case). However, the decision complicates any plans to build large federal infrastructure projects (say, a pipeline) in the vast unceded sectors of B.C.
Terrorism-related security certificates – WIN
May, 2014.
RULING: Unanimous
Since 2002, the federal government has been trying to deport Mohamed Harkat, a pizza delivery man accused of being an al-Qaeda sleeper agent. The deportation order was based on a security certificate, a rarely-used tool of immigration law used to eject foreign nationals suspected of threatening security. The Supreme Court rejected Harkat’s constitutional challenge of the certificate program, and the Tories hailed the decision as a victory.
Time-served sentencing – LOSS
April, 2014
RULING: Unanimous
The Tories’ 2009 Truth in Sentencing Act collared the ability of judges to give offenders sentencing discounts by multiplying the days spent in pre-trial custody. One day in a pre-trial detention centre, for instance, could equal as much as three days served of a sentence. The Supreme Court overturned the Tories’ mandatory 1-1 policy, arguing that it violated the “sentencing principles of parity and proportionality.”
Senate reform – LOSS
April, 2014
RULING: Unanimous
For reasons that are becoming increasingly clear, the Tories had their sights set on corralling some of the awesome power of the Upper Chamber through measures such as indirect elections or term limits for senators. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that the Prime Minister couldn’t do anything to the Senate without provincial assent. The dreamed-of goal to destroy the Senate altogether, meanwhile, would require a near-impossible vote of unanimity from the provinces.Canadians were “essentially stuck” with the Senate thanks to the Supreme Court, said Harper.
Supreme Court nominee Marc Nadon – LOSS
March, 2014
RULING: 6-1
The ugliest Supreme Court-PMO spat yet was fought over Marc Nadon, the bowtied federal court judge Harper wanted to take Quebec’s seat on the court. Nadon wasn’t technically eligible, so the Tories added a few lines to an omnibus budget bill that made him eligible. The Court didn’t buy it—leading to accusations from the PMO that since Day One, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin had been running a clandestine campaign to keep Nadon off her bench.
Prostitution – LOSS
December, 2013
RULING: Unanimous
Canada’s Prostitution laws were written long before Ottawa’s streets were paved, but just before Christmas, 2013, the Court found them unconstitutional and ordered the Harper Government to draw up new ones. A few months later, the Tories’ answer was a dense package of laws that effectively kept prostitution illegal anyway.
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/scoc-harper-gov-scorecard-741324
In one of starkest examples in Canadian history of two branches of government openly turning against one another, the red robed members Supreme Court of Canada have spent months systematically shooting down virtually every issue the Conservatives hold dear. Court boosters say the Tories simply have a fondness for unconstitutional legislation. Harperites, meanwhile, allege that they are the target of a weird vendetta from their down-the-street neighbour. The National Post takes a look at the highlights.
TIMELINE:
LOSS: Prostitution
RULING: Unanimous | Canada’s Prostitution laws were written long before Ottawa’s streets were paved, but just before Christmas, 2013, the Court found them unconstitutional and ordered the Harper Government to draw up new ones. A few months later, the Tories’ answer was a dense package of laws that effectively kept prostitution illegal anyway.
CP/Adrian Wyld
March 2014
LOSS: SCC nominee Marc Nadon
RULING: 6-1 The ugliest Supreme Court-PMO spat yet was fought over Marc Nadon, the bowtied federal court judge Harper wanted to take Quebec’s seat on the court. Nadon wasn’t technically eligible, so the Tories added a few lines to an omnibus budget bill that made him eligible. The Court didn’t buy it—leading to accusations from the PMO that since Day One, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin had been running a clandestine campaign to keep Nadon off her bench.
CP/Adrian Wyld
April 2014
LOSS: Time-served sentencing
RULING: Unanimous | The Tories’ 2009 Truth in Sentencing Act collared the ability of judges to give offenders sentencing discounts by multiplying the days spent in pre-trial custody. One day in a pre-trial detention centre, for instance, could equal as much as three days served of a sentence. The Supreme Court overturned the Tories’ mandatory 1-1 policy, arguing that it violated the “sentencing principles of parity and proportionality.”
CP/Adrian Wyld
April 2014
LOSS: Senate reform
RULING: Unanimous | For reasons that are becoming increasingly clear, the Tories had their sights set on corralling some of the awesome power of the Upper Chamber through measures such as indirect elections or term limits for senators. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that the Prime Minister couldn’t do anything to the Senate without provincial assent. The dreamed-of goal to destroy the Senate altogether, meanwhile, would require a near-impossible vote of unanimity from the provinces.Canadians were “essentially stuck” with the Senate thanks to the Supreme Court, said Harper.
CP files
March 2014
LOSS: SCC nominee Marc Nadon
LOSS: Prostitution
LOSS: SCC nominee Marc Nadon
LOSS: Time-served sentencing
LOSS: Senate reform
WIN: Terrorism-related security certificates
LOSS: Aboriginal title
LOSS: Assisted suicide
WIN: Destruction of gun registry data
LOSS: Mandatory minimums for gun crimes
2013
2014
2015
2016
Dec.
April
Aug.
Dec.
April
Feb.
June
Oct.
Feb.
SCORECARD:
Mandatory minimums for gun crimes – LOSS
April, 2015.
RULING: 6-3
Commit a crime with a prohibited gun, said the 2008 Tackling Violent Crime Act, and you’d get an automatic three years in jail. On Tuesday, the Court struck down the measure, calling it “cruel and unusual” punishment.
Destruction of gun registry data – WIN
March, 2015
RULING: 5-4
As the Tories shredded the records of the abolished long gun registry, Quebec sued to keep their own gun records on file. The Supreme Court denied the request, in what was deemed a rare moment of accord between the PMO and the SCOC.
Assisted suicide – LOSS
February, 2015
RULING: Unanimous
A case brought by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association garnered the somewhat counter-intuitive ruling that Canada’s laws against assisted death violated Canadians’ rights to “life, liberty and security.” As they’ve done before on other issues, the court issued Harper with homework to draw up some assisted dying laws in the next 12 months.
Aboriginal title – LOSS
June, 2014
RULING: Unanimous
B.C.’s Tsilhqot’in First Nation essentially sued for official recognition of their Aboriginal title to a large swath of B.C., and got it. The Harper government didn’t have a dog in this fight (it was a B.C. government case). However, the decision complicates any plans to build large federal infrastructure projects (say, a pipeline) in the vast unceded sectors of B.C.
Terrorism-related security certificates – WIN
May, 2014.
RULING: Unanimous
Since 2002, the federal government has been trying to deport Mohamed Harkat, a pizza delivery man accused of being an al-Qaeda sleeper agent. The deportation order was based on a security certificate, a rarely-used tool of immigration law used to eject foreign nationals suspected of threatening security. The Supreme Court rejected Harkat’s constitutional challenge of the certificate program, and the Tories hailed the decision as a victory.
Time-served sentencing – LOSS
April, 2014
RULING: Unanimous
The Tories’ 2009 Truth in Sentencing Act collared the ability of judges to give offenders sentencing discounts by multiplying the days spent in pre-trial custody. One day in a pre-trial detention centre, for instance, could equal as much as three days served of a sentence. The Supreme Court overturned the Tories’ mandatory 1-1 policy, arguing that it violated the “sentencing principles of parity and proportionality.”
Senate reform – LOSS
April, 2014
RULING: Unanimous
For reasons that are becoming increasingly clear, the Tories had their sights set on corralling some of the awesome power of the Upper Chamber through measures such as indirect elections or term limits for senators. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that the Prime Minister couldn’t do anything to the Senate without provincial assent. The dreamed-of goal to destroy the Senate altogether, meanwhile, would require a near-impossible vote of unanimity from the provinces.Canadians were “essentially stuck” with the Senate thanks to the Supreme Court, said Harper.
Supreme Court nominee Marc Nadon – LOSS
March, 2014
RULING: 6-1
The ugliest Supreme Court-PMO spat yet was fought over Marc Nadon, the bowtied federal court judge Harper wanted to take Quebec’s seat on the court. Nadon wasn’t technically eligible, so the Tories added a few lines to an omnibus budget bill that made him eligible. The Court didn’t buy it—leading to accusations from the PMO that since Day One, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin had been running a clandestine campaign to keep Nadon off her bench.
Prostitution – LOSS
December, 2013
RULING: Unanimous
Canada’s Prostitution laws were written long before Ottawa’s streets were paved, but just before Christmas, 2013, the Court found them unconstitutional and ordered the Harper Government to draw up new ones. A few months later, the Tories’ answer was a dense package of laws that effectively kept prostitution illegal anyway.
