Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Why Ontario Elections Matter

Politicans make legislation and Ontario courts have deemed The Legislature does not made mistakes". Those are the words from a 2011 Ontario Appeals Court hearing. The final judgement continued; "ANYTHING enacted by legislature must be enforced however harsh or absurd or contrary to common sense". Maybe the prelude to the actual judgement was written because one of the three judges made this statement during the proceedings,"the law does not have to be wise".

Those words and the words from the judgement should strike abject fear and dismay in the hearts and minds of Ontarians if they really think about what it takes to get there and the cost incurred to be heard in the highest court of Ontario. If not, then I will repeat part of the judgement again. "Legislature must be enforced however harsh, or absurd or contrary to common sense".

Are YOU awake yet? Have you questioned what criteria was this legislation based on due to such a compliance warning? Did all the political parties have a say in it? Were the public involved and really listened to? Were professional experts consulted to advise on the matter? If so, were the experts listened to? How many letters were against the legislation and were they ever mentioned?

The simple and short answer to all the above questions is NO.

The legislation was introduced by a guy, who at the time, was a popular MPP within the Liberal party. The legislation was drawn up and ready for execution before experts could discuss with attorney general Michael J. Bryant, what advice they would give. (See link to Toronto Sun Article below.)

Oh, the experts were allowed to testify at the "kangaroo hearings" led by David Zimmer, but in the end, and after much of their expertise and time was freely given, none of their advice was taken. This after both media and the public had been led to believe differently, by Bryant himself during a CityTV interview. Bryant said, "you don’t ask an attorney general to be the dog expert. I want to put this in the hands of experts".

When eventually, after consistent outcry from the public and the experts, numerous petitions (one with thirty thousand names), and regular protests, asked IF the legislation would be reviewed (as NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo had put a private members bill to repeal the "specfic measures"), the Prime Minister of Ontario again delibrately deceived the press and public as to what experts had advised. Dalton McGuinty said; "we got the best advice we could and put in legislation, we think, upholds public safety".

The legislaton became law because MPP's within the Liberal party were basically told to pass it or face the back benches of caucas. It passed because a few of the power brokers (Michael Bryant; David Zimmer; Dalton McGuinty being the main ones) decided the vote should be whipped and sadly, so many Liberal MPP's, decided not to do their due diligence and went along with it, rather than lose status and perks. Every single MPP at Queens Park that day from the other elected political parties voted against the legislation. They had no say in what was occurring in the House of Commons. Sadly this is, was, and has, not been the only occurance showing a total lack of regard and respect for democracy under the current Liberal government.

(Remember the G20? The "secret law" that very quietly passed in legislature, unknown to all the other political party members, which took away Canadian Charter rights of everyday citizens called "The Public Works Protection Act"?
Ah, maybe now you are starting to wake up. I hope it's not the coffee.

What was also in the legislation was a little something called "REVERSE ONUS". WHAT you say, isn't that against the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? The answer is yes. But, under this legislation (and now some others) you are automatically guilty and must prove yourself innocent - no matter what the cost to you or your family would be. (As anyone can accuse you of something, there is a reason why the Canadian constitution has "innocent until proven guilty" in it).

If you want to know about this legislation, a study was done by a university in the United States called "Panic Policy Making; Canine Breed Bans in Canada and the US". It more than mentions Ontario's passing of the legislation and compares the decison to places where it was rejected. While the whole study is well worth reading, the part about Ontario passing it starts at around page 16 and it is frightening. The fact that discrimination and profiling is now in law is frightening. The fact that a small handful of politicans, with a hidden agenda of their own, (see Panic Policy Making) can turn Ontarians into 3rd class citizens, no matter how responsible or respectable they are, is frightening. Warrantless entry into private homes and the automatic removal of ones property is frightening. All this and more is occurring all over Ontario thanks to legislation that need not be wise or "that is contrary to common sense".

When laws are passed that make all citizens pay because of a few bad apples, Ontario is in serious peril. Banning all kinds of things and attaching huge fines on the general polulous is now becoming quite commonplace under Dalton McGuinty. The Canadian Charter has been compromised on many different levels in various areas in Ontario, not just the one I speak of here. Why this election matters isn't just about the excessive debt Ontario is now under. It's not just about skyrocking taxes and hydro rates or the incompetent and wasteful spending of billions of hard earned tax dollars. This election matters because the leader in current power does not seem to value the democracy our forefathers fought and gave their lives for, nor the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. When a leader or government does not look to, respect or inforce individual responsibilty and accountability, that leader or government becomes dangerous. It will compromise OUR individual rights and freedoms, as are "guaranteed in the Canadian Charter".

That so many thousands of innocent non offending family pets are now taken out of good homes, seized and killed based on a shoddy vague discription of what dogs look like is insane. That non criminals face penalties of six months in jail and a $10,000 dollar fine when they have raised well behaved, properly trained and socialized dogs, is insane. There is a stench coming out of "the house"; our house and this fall, on Oct 6th it needs a major cleaning job.

Where Liberals allowed a "FREE VOTE"?
http://www.advocatesfortheunderdog.com/downloads/freevote.pdf
SECRET LAW
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/828367--g20-law-gives-police-sweeping-powers-to-arrest-people
PANIC POLICY MAKING; CANINE BREEDS BANS IN CANADA AND THE US
http://www.polsci.wvu.edu/faculty/BRISBIN/Papers/2007.%20Panic%20Policy%20Making.pdf
NEW DOG OWNERS LIABILITY ACT
http://caveat.blogware.com/OntarioDOLA.pdf
TORONTO SUN ARTICLE: EXPERTS AGAINST THE BAN
http://www.advocatesfortheunderdog.com/downloads/tsun.pdf
SUGGESTED AMMENDMENTS. NONE ACCEPTED FROM OTHER PARTIES
http://www.chicobandido.com/2006/09/bill-132-amendments
ONTARIO DOG OWNERS STAND UP AGAINST BSL (video).
(Note the REAL Owners and NOT what you see in the tabloids!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkNqgqcUuGE
VIDEO below is a small segment of one protest walking from Queens Park.


2 comments:

  1. Word of advice for the idiot that wrote this article and is clearly demonstrating his lack of knowledge on democratic systems. The legislature is ALWAYS the final word on laws unless the court can find them unconstitutional. Why? because the legislature are elected officials that represent the "people". The people put them there and they techincally are responsible of carrying out the wishes of the people. One single judge, any judge, cannot change or strike down a law created by the elected body of governmen (except when unconstitutional). If a judge had the power to change laws when they saw fit, we would not be living in a democracy. Read up on the rule of law, the functions of government, and how democracy operates before you blab on.

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  2. Ah! Unless the courts find legislation unconstitutional. Good job Anonymous and yes YOU are right, as, the author VERY WELL KNOWS. Have a little read here.
    http://www.dogownersrights.com/

    Now let me tell YOU something. The legislation HAS been taken to court regarding constitutional issues, a couple of times actually. The legislation, in ONE case (out of thousands and thousands of every day, every man for himself cases), WENT ALL the way to the Supreme Court of Canada in fact. (The case as mentioned above only made it to the Ontario Court of Appeals, which again is NOT cheap for an individuals fighting for rights.)

    Now let ME give YOU a little lesson. It takes about $750,000 PLUS to get to the Supreme Court. If one is not either a politican or a corporation, raising the money as individuals can be expensive (you got $750,000 to spare?)

    So, it takes ALOT of time, effort, sweat and tears, by THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of everyday people working together, to raise THAT kind of money (as was done in the SC case).

    However, and here's the rub. The SC hears ONLY about 10% of the cases that GET there. So while the law (legislation) does not have to be wise, (BUT can be harsh, Absurb and Contrary to Common Sense) resolving "constitutional issues" can be selective, extremely expensive AND ultimately prove difficult to obtain (even as a large group).

    So YOU see, I HAVE read up on the functions of government and how democracy is SUPPOSED to work. The problem in On-Terrible now, under this current government, VOTES on legislation are being whipped ALL the Time (after Dalton made a pre- election promise that he would NOT do so). BUT as legislation IS indeed, whipped in by a few individuals, democracy is NOT occurring, as IT IS deemed "legislature does not make mistakes"! (As per the judgement in the case discussed above). Scary huh?

    In the meantime, YOU need to read the Canadian Charter. Look up EQUALITY Rights. Also look up; Mobility Rights; 6.2 (a and b) and Legal Rights (8 and 12). As far as I know, unless the Charter has recently changed, there are a couple of other rights being infringed in Ontario as "People are Innocent Until Proven Guilty" and "Warrantless
    Entry" is also against the Charter.

    Would love to continue and "blab" on, but I can smell my pizza burning. Ta ta for now.

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