A Renowned Lawyer

11/25/17 • 59 min

Cannabis legislation is being debated on Parliament Hill. One MP called me a renowned lawyer and one MP said marijuana was as dangerous as fentanyl. At lest one of those MP is batshit crazy. Yes, Peter Kent claimed that by legalizing marijuana we might as well as be force feeding our kids fentanyl - well that was the gist of it. So we make some fun of him.

We also update the tragic Ezekiel Stephan case. The Alberta Court of Appeal upheld Ezekiel's parents conviction for their role in his death. We looked at the case way back on episode 41 and we will likely do it all again because this thing is headed to the Supreme Court.

I also tell Emilie a long story about the worse courthouse in Ontario - welcome to Smiths Falls.

And then we talk about mental health in the justice system. The House of Commons Justice Committee is looking at the mental health of jurors. Ontario took action last year. But we need to do more for everyone in our courts. We don't talk about mental health enough but maybe that is changing.

I also tell Emilie a long story about the worse courthouse in Ontario - welcome to Smiths Falls.

Previous Episode

You Are Tearing Me Apart Lisa!

Hey look we have a sponsor! Let the podcast money start rolling in! But seriously a huge thanks to Emond Publishing. And holy hell this was a good episode.

We kick off the episode looking at the recent litigation in Toronto involving the best worse movie ever made - The Room. Tommy Wiseau tried to block the release of the documentary Room Full of Spoons. His performance in court was about as good as it was in his movie and the judgement is hilarious.

Then we take a look at the tale of two police interviews. One was cut short because of excessive farting and one was thrown out of court for the oppressive lack of bathroom breaks. And then something more serious. Charges were dropped against a number of police officers accused of obstructing justice, planting evidence, and lying in court. It seems the officer's own police force so badly botched the disclosure of evidence to the Crown that the trial would have had to be delayed. And in an unprecedented move the Crown conceded the resulting delay would have been unconstitutional - in the absence of any defence application or court ruling. Wow.

But then onto the main act. We are joined by Vancouver based immigration and criminal lawyer Peter Edelmann. He took a break from his preparation for the next day's Supreme Court hearing to chat with us. We talk about his case, immigration policy, and criminal law. Peter also is the host of the immigration podcast Boarder Lines - so you should go listen to that too.

Next Episode

Who is that new Supreme Court Judge?

A special guest! Ian Bushfield - the Executive Director of the @BCHumanist, @bccla board member, and the left half of @PolitiCoastPod - returns to talk about the Supreme Court.

But we start with the important stuff - a deep dive into the red hot debate about the best Canadian TV show of all time. And I have an epiphany about Danger Bay.

Then we dive into some law an politics. Justin Trudeau announced his new pick for the Supreme Court - Sheilah Martin. We give the honest of hot takes on the new appointment.

We also take a look at the government's historic apology for past LGBTQ2 discrimination and ask why is legislation that would repeal zombie laws - including some of the discriminatory and unconstitutional offences that were used against LGBTQ2 communities - stalled at first reading?

Then we take a look look at some other legislation that seems to be stalled. As the Supreme Court is set to hear a constitutional challenged to the Conservative victim fine surcharge legislation the current government seems content to let their legislative fix languish at fist reading.

We also take a quick look at the Bill Morneau debacle, why we need a law reform commission, and as usual talk about pot and pardons.