The Supreme Court’s (SCC) recent decision to hear an appeal of Re Indalex Ltd.[1]is significant for the development of law on secured transactions. However, the importance of the decision extends beyond written law. As Baby Boomers leave the workplace, they begin to draw on benefits en masse. Combined with a top-heavy population, it is a distinct possibility that many benefit plans will quickly become unsupportable by a smaller working population. According to the Globe and Mail[2] this will be the first pension insolvency matter heard by the SCC, an indication of the importance of the topic to our country’s future. Regardless of the outcome, the SCC’s willingness to hear the matter will certainly send a strong message to Parliament.
Are Courts Disincentivizing Investment through Pension Law Reform?
Posted in Current Events, Law/Legal Issues, Politics Leave a comment
Your rights and their limits
I’ve been reading Ezra Levant. It’s not my fault, I was rather forcefully told his “ShakeDown” was a must read. I suppose it’s necessary to break one’s bias every once in a while and it turns out it wasn’t completely wasted effort. I won’t claim to have finished the thin, pocket-sized criticism of Human Rights/Commissions in Canada. With a mountain of reading for school always on the horizon, it’s tough to find the time and willpower to read anything else let alone synthesizing the meaning.
Up to my current place in the book, I’ve seen two real issues with Levant’s reasoning:
1. Interpretation of the charter regarding freedoms (particularly of expression, liberty, thought and opinion); and
2. The policy and pragmatic reasons underlying the so-called “fascist” interpretations of the Human Rights Act and it’s impact on the above named constitutionalized rights and freedoms.
I’ll deal with these two issues in separate posts to keep things to a readable length. This post will deal with the Charter and the second will deal with the policy reasons for the charter-prescribed limits on rights and freedoms.
Posted in Current Events, Law/Legal Issues, Politics, Writing/Reading Leave a comment
Technological Illiteracy
Illiteracy is a problem. It prevents social and economic mobility and makes many aspects of life more difficult for many individuals. Illiteracy, at a shocking 15% (CBC, 2006) also has a profound impact on our country’s economic and social well-being. Every province in Canada has its own version of the Federal Literacy and Learning Network – a public service group that works to increase literacy in Canada. The problem with basic literacy is known, it’s talked about and it’s taken seriously. But there is another kind of illiteracy which, I am convinced, is most likely equally as crippling to our economic and social well-being: technological illiteracy. While not as fundamental as basic literacy, technological literacy is an absolute requirement in a service-based economy, which unarguably defines modern Canada.
Posted in Tech, Writing/Reading Leave a comment
Death by Torts (class)
I am drowning in torts reading – well in reading in general. The first couple weeks of law school have been intense, but not in the expected ways. The law, simply put, is much less pragmatic than I had anticipated – or to be more specific, its study is not.
What I’m enjoying significantly more than expected are the cases we’re reading. Some are hilarious; like the guy whose doctor convinced him to choose an experimental new skin grafting surgery by guaranteeing that his burnt hand would be “100% perfect” afterward. The hand wasn’t and the skin grafted from his chest to his palm began to grow hair…..on the palm of his hand! Not surprisingly, the court ruled that the doctor’s words, as a professional, expert and with a duty of care to his patient constituted a legally binding contractual promise. The rest was, well, remedy.
More to come, it’s about to get way more tort-y up in here.
