Canada - Where obeying the law is optional

Canadian Wheat Board Alliance

December 12, 2011

In very blunt language the Honourable Douglas Campbell of the Federal Court has ruled that Minister Ritz has broken the law by introducing legislation to gut our Canadian Wheat Board without consulting the farmer elected Board of Directors and holding a fair plebiscite among farmers.

This means the judge has already ruled Ritz’s argument that he is rescinding the law, so he does not have to follow the law, is nonsense.  Yet now we have a Prime Minister contending that following the law (i.e.:  the ruling of the courts) is optional for his government.  The judge called this “an affront to the rule of law,” and it is.

This sort of lawlessness on the part of government can only lead to further lawlessness, just as Chief Justice Fraser wrote:

“The detrimental consequences of the executive branch of government defining for itself – and by itself – the scope of its lawful power have been revealed, often bloodily, in the tumult of history.  …  When government does not comply with the law, this is not merely non-compliance with a particular law, it is an affront to the rule of law itself.”

A decedent, honourable, and law abiding government would simply withdraw this shameful legislation and get on with more pressing issues.  At a minimum, it is time for the Senate to table Bill C-18 until the court process is completed.

Certainly the hypocrisy of a tough on crime government ignoring a court ruling should not be lost on even its strongest supporters.

All individual rights to freedom and property are dependent on the rule of law being respected by government.  By choosing to ignore the law, Prime Minister Harper has stepped into some very deep water and this is a direct threat to all Canadians.