The Supreme Court yesterday agreed to hear a final challenge of a 1912 law requiring that lawyers in Alberta swear allegiance to the King. The oath is similar to that required of newly-elected MPs: "If it does not come from the heart it has no value." READ MORE
The decommissioned Kingston Penitentiary this fall should be transferred to federal real estate managers for sale as Lake Ontario waterfront property, says a Correctional Service memo. The penitentiary closed 13 years ago: "Anyone who says we don’t need to put everything on the table right now is not listening." READ MORE
A union’s 12-year defamation claim against Toronto journalist Jerry Agar has been dismissed by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Judges upheld a lower court ruling that “heated” or “colourful” debate on current events was "what a free and democratic society does." READ MORE
Parliament’s 2023 passage of the Online News Act left Canadians, especially those in rural areas, too reliant on mainstream media and “official voices” in news coverage, says a report to the Commons heritage committee. The Act provoked a Facebook news ban that left communities “lacking credible information on the platform they used most,” it said. READ MORE
Canadian parents remain wary of Covid shots for children even years after the pandemic, new Public Health Agency data show. Current vaccination rates run as low as 12 percent: 'They object to what they saw as an attempt to make them feel guilty.' READ MORE
More Canadians owe more than ever, says a Financial Consumer Agency of Canada memo. The release of the document yesterday followed a warning by bankruptcy trustees that millions of Canadians have “no margin for error.” READ MORE
A squatter’s tent in a city park meets the legal definition of “accommodation,” the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has ruled in a far-reaching judgment on urban encampments. The decision came in the case of a homeless Halifax man denied welfare for shelter costs since he had no shelter: "The ordinary meaning of the word ‘accommodation’ is broad." READ MORE
I’m no gambler, though there are those who’d say running for public office in Alberta as a Liberal in 1986 takes a gambling streak. I am no good at cards. I’ve never been to Las Vegas. There is a philosophical principle we share. Government must be careful in how it limits choice. I have a right to gamble if I want to gamble. I even have a right to go bankrupt doing it. But, there is something pernicious about VLTs. They are addictive. They damage families. There is ample evidence they are linked to suicide.
