Tag Archive for 'Legislation'

Division of Powers — Property Rights

Published on July 20, 2011 in Canada, How to Become a Professional Private Investigator, Legislation and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The provinces have been granted power over “property and civil rights in the province” in Section 92(13) of  The Constitution Act, 1867.

This division of power forced the Trudeau government to remove the right to private property from the Charter of Rights when the provinces protested its inclusion. The provinces saw this as limiting their ability to tax, expropriate, and exercise control over property ownership. Neither the federal nor provincial governments are under any constitutional obligation to pay fair (or any) compensation for expropriated property. The Constitution Act 1867 and the Charter of Rights do not address this issue. Legislatures are also free to legislate away your ability to use any property for any purpose. Ontario and Quebec will probably try this route to control firearms ownership once the Long Arm Registry is eliminated by the federal government.

This is starting to backfire. Landowner associations and grass-roots movements are starting to form in Ontario and Alberta.  These groups and movements to include property rights into the Charter of Rights will become a prominent feature of the political landscape in years to come.

Good Intentions Gone Bad

Published on October 20, 2010 in Canada, Legislation and Private Investigator. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The Law Times reports that 50% fail the new Ontario PI Exam

Since April 15, private investigators have been subject to a new basic training and testing requirement. Recent estimates at some agencies put failure rates at about 50 per cent.

Criticisms of the new system include the fact that there’s no approved curriculum for the training component; that those who design the courses don’t get to see the exam beforehand; and that the test is too broad and not necessarily relevant to the work private investigators do.

As well, people have complained that there’s no handbook to help prepare for the test. “There were questions on it that I will never come across in my area of expertise,” one commentator identifying as a private investigator recently wrote on lawtimesnews.com.

It’s obvious, then, that there are flaws. Once again, good intentions at ensuring and raising proficiency standards are having unintended consequences.

We have to ask why the Ontario government is testing for useless knowledge? The simple answer is, because they can. Continue reading ‘Good Intentions Gone Bad’

Division of Powers – Criminal Law

Published on October 6, 2010 in Canada, Courts, How to Become a Professional Private Investigator, Legislation, Private Investigator and Sources. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Under the division of powers, the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over criminal law and procedure (section 91(27) of the Constition Act of 1867) the provinces have jurisdiction over the administration of justice, including criminal matters (section 92(14)) and penal matters (section 92(15)) regarding any laws made within provincial jurisdiction. Thus Canada has a single Criminal Code but many provincial laws that can result in incarceration or penalty.

Criminal and Civil Courts

This means that the Administration of Justice in the Province, including the Constitution, Maintenance, and Organization of Provincial Courts, both of Civil and of Criminal Jurisdiction, and including Procedure in Civil Matters in those Courts are matters handled by the Province. It also means that the Province handles the Imposition of Punishment by Fine, Penalty, or Imprisonment for enforcing any Law of the Province made in relation to any Matter coming within any of the Classes of Subjects enumerated in  Section 92 of the Constitution Act of 1867.

For the Investigator, this means that the majority of the criminal prosecutions occur in courts administered by the provinces and that most civil actions are issued in provincial courts.

Division of Powers

Published on October 4, 2010 in Canada, How to Become a Professional Private Investigator, Legislation and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

This is the first in a series about how Canada works. An Investigator must know these things about his country in order to know who is responsible for creating and maintaining the information that he may need.

The Canadian Federation

Canada is a federation with two distinct jurisdictions of political authority: the country-wide federal government and ten provincial governments.  Presently, the three territories are creations of the Federal Parliament and exercise delegated power and not sovereign power.

The federal nature of Canadian constitution was a reaction to the range of colonial diversities of the different regions of Canada. Federalism was also considered essential to the co-existence of the French and English Canada.

The division of powers between the federal and provincial governments was initially outlined in the British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), which, with amendments to both, form the Constitution of Canada. The federal-provincial distribution of legislative powers (also known as the division of powers) defines the scope of the power of the federal parliament of Canada and the powers of each individual provincial legislature or assembly.

PIPEDA & The PI

Published on September 29, 2010 in Canada, Courts, Legislation, Privacy and Private Investigator. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

This year, two events indicate the federal privacy commissioner’s attempts to control private investigations in Canada may soon end. Continue reading ‘PIPEDA & The PI’

Jury Vetting Scandal in Ontario

Published on June 20, 2009 in Canada, Courts and Legislation. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The jury vetting scandal in Ontario illustrates what happens when an act (in this case the Juries Act) assumes that the bureaucracy will act properly and in good faith. Shannon Kari, the reporter, quoted me in the National Post this morning.

No move to set up outside review into secret juror checks

The Ontario government has agreed that the broad background checks, which led to notations on jury lists that included mental heath data and comments such as “dislikes police” went too far…

Richard McEachin, who runs a Toronto-based company that does data research for private clients, said he was not surprised Versadex was used. “The main CPIC criminal record database has a robust audit trail and procedures to prevent abuse,” he said…

He echoed the views of Mr. Stuart, that any criminal record searches should only be on behalf of the court sheriff.

“This would create a visible and dated audit trail,” Mr. McEachin said…

Information on Legislation Before the Canadian Parliament

Published on December 12, 2008 in Canada, Legislation and Sources. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The Library of Parliament announced enhancements to LEGISINFO, a research site containing information on legislation currently before Parliament.

Effective immediately, users may:

  • consult short summaries of 500 words or less for Government bills from the current Parliament onwards. These summaries are placed under the Legislative Summary link within 48-72 hours of first reading;
  • and access “Royal Recommendations” and “Major Speaker’s Rulings and Statements” for all bills from the 40th Parliament onwards, where applicable, through the links to the Senate Debates or House of Commons Journals. These links are found just below “Text of the Bill”.

LEGISINFO also provides access to information about individual bills, along with links to recent newspaper articles, a reading list, and other related information.

Canadian MP Voting Records

Published on September 22, 2008 in Canada and Legislation. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to locate the voting records of Members of Parliament who are now candidates in this election. Do this to become better informed Canadian.

The House of Commons’ Compendium of Procedure article on Recorded Votes (also called divisions) is your first stop. Your second stop is the chapter on Debate and Voting which explains when members’ names are recorded during a vote. This also explains when members’ names are not recorded.

Your next stop should be How’d They Vote. This site takes takes the Hansard from the parliament website, and extracts information on bills, members of parliament, votes, and speeches.

LegisInfo lets you peruse votes on bills along with the following:

  • the text of the bill at various stages;
  • government press releases and backgrounders (for government bills);
  • legislative summaries from the Parliamentary Information and Research Service;
  • important speeches at second reading;
  • coming into force data.

For example, choose Bill C2 in the current session under House of Commons, Government Bills. Once you have selected the bill, you may select Selected Recorded Votes and see how the members voted.