Ontario Court Strikes Down Anti-Prositution Laws

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20100928/ontario-anti-prostitution-laws-struck-down-100928/

Hurray! I have argued for years that the laws surrounding prostitution in Canada were ridiculous!

These things are illegal (for now):

Soliciting for the purposes of prostitution

Soliciting to hire a prostitute

Operating a common bawdy house (where prostitution takes place)

Living off the avails of prostitution.

See anything missing? Yeah. Prostitution. That's right prostitution is legal in Canada. You just can't advertise it, ask for it, enable it, or spend any money you might make at it.

Politicians ask us to give them a job where they use their talents and abilities to satisfy one of our needs and we pay them to do it. We fund the place where they ply their trade. They spend their take-home pay.

What's the difference? Sex.

Although we frequently get screwed by politicians, too.

I'm just saying...

Random application of the Charter

The headline jumped out at me: "Random use of police sniffer dogs breach of Charter: top court"
(http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/04/25/school-search.html)

I read the article and find something vaguely disturbing about it. On one hand, I really enjoy the freedom to wander about and not have to wonder when the police will be searching me and my stuff. On the other hand, if buddy has enough cocaine and heroin in my kid's school to make it obvious she is never going to use it all herself, I don't mind if it gets found in a random search.

So are CheckStops now unconstitutional without a specific warrant?

Charter Rights in Canada

Recently a woman from out of the country gave birth prematurely. That child is deemed Canadian (under Canadian law). The parents had to pay 10's of thousands of dollars for medical expenses. We have "universal health care" for Canadian Citizens. To qualify for those benefits in Alberta, you must be an Alberta resident for at least 4 months (I think). A newborn cannot possibly have lived (independently) ANYWHERE for 4 months. The Charter guarantees equal treatment under the law without discrimination on the basis of age. Since that Canadian child could not ever have been accommodated under the law, the law discriminates unfairly on the basis of age.

My solution? Add a clause something like "or is under 4 months of age and has resided in the province since birth" or something like that... we wouldn't have to scrap or rewrite all the law, it would be reasonable under the Charter, and would work for the better health of Canadian citizens.

So there!