Are Canada’s laws against the possession and cultivation of cannabis to go up in smoke? Canadians now begin to wait for the Court of Appeal for Ontario to make that call. The appeal court yesterday wrapped up two days of hearings of the Crown’s appeal of Justice D.J. Taliano’s April 11, 2011 trial decision in the case of R. v. Mernagh. The Court of Appeal could take days or weeks to render its decision, but the history of the time taken by Ontario’s highest court to make decisions about the constitutionality of Canada’s cannabis laws suggests Canadians will be waiting between 2 and 6 months for the answer. What follows is a brief explanation of Justice Taliano’s decision, and an overview of the main arguments made on appeal; the arguments to be weighed by the Court of Appeal as it makes its decision. Read the story »

A lot could be said – and is being said – about the Progressive Conservatives response – or rather, non-response – to the budget. The prevailing line of commentary is that Tim Hudak and the PCs failed to “show leadership” by deciding to vote against the budget before even knowing what it contained; and for failing to take part in the budget negotiations that have occurred in the weeks since its release. That they failed to show leadership may be true, but one would be hard pressed to demonstrate that that represents some kind of recent development. No, the essential issue arising from PCs’ conduct in respect of the 2012 budget is not a lack of leadership: it is a dereliction of duty. Read the story »

In Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged”, the United States’ taxed and over-regulated inventors and problem solvers go on strike. Having shrugged off the burden of carrying others – the burden of thinking for them and making possible the production of goods and services that make civilization possible – the rest of society falls into hunger, darkness, and violence. In the interim, the government attempts to prevent the strike with force of law and guns but it ultimately discovers that the human mind is sovereign; that no amount of law or physical might can force a person to think and work if he simply chooses not to do so. A recent decision in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice has now demonstrated that the same metaphysical fact faces the proponents of cannabis prohibition in Canada, which now appears destined to share the fate of Rand’s Atlas-forsaken United States. Read the story »