Jack Layton 1950-2011

Canada has lost a good man.

Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, has passed away after a battle with Cancer. Earlier this summer, Avenue and Ridley wished Mr. Layton well and gave background as to how far he had taken his party since becoming leader in 2003. We must now take the unfortunate actions of addressing his passing.

Jack Layton was a great Canadian. The son of a Progressive Conservative minister and a great grand-nephew of a Father of Confederation, Canada was in his blood. He had an unparalleled understanding of the French and English aspects of Canada, and while his social democratic policies did not sell in parts of the country, he was exceptional at connecting with everyday Canadians and was far and away our most likable politician. With regard to his political opponents, he was also well liked, and one need only recall this exchange between the prime minister and Mr. Layton to see this civility and respect.

Having worked for the Conservatives, my personal history with Mr. Layton is limited, but there is one story to tell. While travelling (in Economy class) on a flight between Ottawa and Toronto, I noticed Mr. Layton one row over. It was a hot July day and everyone in a suit was wearing one of those “Damn this Ottawa humidity” frowns. Well, everyone but Mr. Layton. He wore a smile with the cordiality of a 19th century butler, but the dignity of a liberating General. Once we landed, two students walked up the aisle and asked to speak with him. He remained in his seat and greeted these young people like they were old friends. The three then walked away and when I arrived at the aircraft door, he was already introducing his new friends to an NDP colleague.

The cynic might say he was fishing for votes and volunteers, and to an extent this is true. But the look in the eyes said something else. Jack Layton genuinely cared for these young people and wanted to give them as much time as possible. In matters like this, politicians of all stripes would do well to emulate his example.

Cancer is a dastardly villain and today claimed another life. Jack Layton will be missed and all Canadians will long appreciate his service.

Photographic Highlights of Southern Alberta

This past weekend, I visited Calgary and some of its surrounding areas. Calgary is the largest city in the Canadian province of Alberta and third or fourth in Canada depending on how this is measured. It proudly bills itself as the 'Heart of the New West' and is an oil town with a significant mergers and acquisitions presence and the second most corporate head offices in Canada. It's also a political heavyweight, being home of the current Prime Minister of Canada and three ministers of the crown. My brother and me also visited Drumheller, centre of the ‘Canadian Badlands’ and home to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, which houses one of the world’s largest collection of prehistoric animal remains. It was a great trip and we hope you enjoy this small sampling of my photographs.

(The Bow Tower is the tallest building in Calgary and is now nearing completion)

(Old and new in Calgary!)

(Alberta became a province in 1905. Prior to this it was part of the Northwest Territiories)

(Stephen Avenue in the Calgary city centre is a large pedestrian street)

(The Calgary Tower and Fairmont Palliser Hotel)

(The Palliser is located beside a Canadian Pacific railyard and one of its features is a bay for 1920s era trains that can be rented and taken through the mountains)

(Artwork in the Hotel)

(Southern Alberta is quite flat)

(The Red Deer River in the Badlands.)

(Dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller)

(Horseshoe Canyon in the Badlands)

(Your humble blogger/photographer and the Calgary skyline)

Legal History in Southwestern Ontario

This past week I took a trip up to Southampton, Ontario on mighty Lake Huron. Up and back, we passed through many small towns – many of which undoubtedly look similar to how they did a century ago, except for the striking cenotaphs raised to memorialize the young men sent abroad during the great wars of the 20^th century. With that in mind, I begin today's blog entry with two such cenotaphs, one in Chesley and the other in Harriston.

(The cenotaphs of Chesley [upper] and Harriston [lower])

The trip had much to see with regard to Canadian legal history as well. My first stop in Chatsworth, now a small bedroom community for Owen Sound, was the birthplace of Nellie McClung, an MLA for Alberta and a famous women’s rights activist. In the late 20s, McClung became part of the ‘Famous Five’ who launched Edwards v Canada (Attorney General) [1928] SCR 276 and [1931] AC 124 better known as the 'Persons Case'.

(Chatsworth, Ontario)

It all started in 1916 when women were asked to leave a prostitution trial. Incensed by this, jurist Emily Murphy asked that the Alberta Attorney-General for a court for women by women and the Attorney-General agreed. This was then challenged by a lawyer who claimed that women were not qualified persons according to the British North America Act, 1867 and the case went to the Alberta Court of Appeal whose judgment held women were indeed qualified persons. Murphy wanted to take this national and submitted her name to be named a Senator in the Parliament of Canada. When this was rejected by Prime Minister Robert Borden, Murphy and her fellow appellants, Henrietta Muir Edwards (Vice-President for the province of Alberta of the National Council of Women for Canada); Nellie L. McClung, Louise C. McKinney and Irene Parlby (all of whom were members of the Alberta Legislative Assembly) petitioned the Governor-General to submit the question to the Supreme Court of Canada. This was done with Edwards v Canada (Attorney-General) [1927] SCR 276 in which the Supreme Court held women were not ‘qualified persons’ for the Senate. This was subsequently appealed to the Privy Council in London (as the Supreme Court of Canada was not yet the court of last resort for Canada) where the judgment was reversed in Edwards v Canada [1931] AC 124. Here the Lords concluded that the word 'persons' in s.24 BNA Act includes both men and women.

Besides the obvious point of holding women as qualified persons, Edwards is also remembered for Lord Sankey’s Living Tree Doctrine which held the constitution was like a 'Living Tree’ and that constitutional interpretation is organic and should be read in a broad and liberal fashion so as to change with the times. This would significantly impact later Canadian constitutional and administrative law.

The second site I stopped was the birthplace of Canada’s 13^th Prime Minister, John George Diefenbaker in Neustadt, Ontario. Diefenbaker, the son of a school teacher and the descendant of German immigrants, moved to the Northwest Territories (Saskatchewan) in 1903 where he was later educated at the University of Saskatchewan. He was called to the bar in 1919 after a short time in Europe, and started work as a small town lawyer. Elected to the Canadian parliament in 1940, Diefenbaker would become leader of the Opposition in 1957 and later that year Prime Minister of a minority government. After three decades of Liberal governance there was little front bench strength for the Tories, but this did not stop a massive Diefenbaker majority in 1958. His government would be moved back to minority status in 1962 and was eventually sent across the aisle in 1963.

(The Diefenbaker home)

In 1960 the Parliament of Canada passed the Canadian Bill of Rights. Bills of rights are a longstanding tradition in the Anglo-American legal world, going back to Magna Carta and Diefenbaker, having been influenced by the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights and numerous cases regarding government power, sought to give Canada one of its own. This Bill of Rights was not entrenched however, and as the product of a supreme parliament could be changed at any time. This is one of the reasons why many in the legal community see it as a failure, while supporters of a supreme (sovereign) parliament see it as a true inheritance of Canada's parliamentary tradition. But that is a subject for another day.

So with that, I concluded my little trip of parts of south western Ontario. It was a great little summer adventure and brought us a little closer to Canada’s rich legal history. We hope you enjoyed the trip!

(Lake Huron)

Jack Layton

Yesterday we learned that Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons, will temporarily step down from his post due to an additional diagnosis of cancer.

Jack Layton is a dynamo of a politician. This May, while using a cane due to an earlier hip operation, Mr. Layton managed to do what no previous federal New Democratic leader had ever done -- take his party to Official Opposition status. This amazing feat -- the likes of which legends Tommy Douglas, Stephen Lewis or Ed Broadbent could not do -- was done by winning an amazing 59 out of 75 seats in Quebec and virtually eliminating the Bloc Quebecois in that province. Many more seats were won in former Liberal strongholds such as Toronto, which is an additionally amazing feat. All in all, the 41st Canadian parliament is the first to have a social-democratic opposition and its 103 NDP seats make that party the largest opposition party in years.

Avenue and Ridley would like to wish Mr. Layton a full, complete and speedy recovery. We rarely share his views, but as a fellow cancer survivor, we have never felt closer to him than now. Good luck, Jack. You can beat this!