Kyla Lee

And if I weren’t so upset by it, I would be inserting jokes at Ontario’s expense here.

Ever since the Newmarket region of Ontario set Canada’s record for the highest sentence ever handed down in an impaired driving case, after the Marco Muzzo sentencing, Ontario has developed a disturbing trend of issuing jail sentences to first time impaired drivers.

This is incredibly problematic and serves only to harm the administration of justice in the long term. And this blog post explains why.

This week, Paul Doroshenko and I speak about the decision by Greyhound to cease service on all but one of its Western Canada routes. Next, we talk about some of the hurdles the Crown will face in the prosecution of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, and look a little deeper at the bail conditions he was placed on. Finally, we talk about a recent report in Alberta about driver licensing centres and the fraud, bribery, and sexual assault allegations that have recently come to light.

You can catch this week’s episode on iTunes, SoundCloud, or on PlayerFM.

Practically speaking, this means that if mom and dad admit to smoking pot, they may be prevented from taking the kids to Disneyland on the family vacation. Or a person who works at a dispensary may be denied entry and not permitted to travel to the United States for a medical procedure not available in Canada.

The consequences are significant and there is a lot that is unknown about how Canadian legal cannabis use will impact border travel.

All on this week’s edition of Weird and Wacky Wednesdays!

Complaints have been filed against Julie Lauzon, a Justice of the Peace sitting in Ottawa. The complaints were initiated after Lauzon published a scathing editorial in the National Post, criticizing what she called a “broken” bail system in the Ontario courts. In Ontario, justices of the peace preside over bail hearings. They also, as in British Columbia, perform other judicial functions such as reviewing applications for search warrants.

The basis of the complaints was a concern that Ms. Lauzon’s article brought the administration of justice into disrepute, by publicly denigrating the reputation of Crown counsel and thereby also raised a reasonable apprehension of bias against the Crown. The complaints allege that Ms. Lauzon’s article harmed the justice system.

I call foul.