New Brunswick man's fight to 'free the beer' lands in Supreme Court
"The decision would significantly undercut provincial and federal powers," argued Francois Joyal, a lawyer for the Attorney General of Canada."I understand the province is going to create revenue," said Comeau. "They were given the right to do that by the federal government. But they weren't given the right to take away my right to shop wherever I want, if the price is cheaper."
"It's like bank robbers saying, 'Your Honour, it's true I robbed the bank but I really needed the money,'" said Brian Lee Crowley, managing director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. "If the
Constitution says there shall be no barriers, the fact the provinces make money from barriers is no argument at all."
Naturally all the Provinces, Municipalities and the Feds are fighting this tooth and nail.
Via, NewsHubNation
Expect a ruling using the exceptions clause.
I'd really like to know what gives the RCMP the right to search your vehicle if you're simply crossing a Provincial border.
Canada has a constitution, who would've known?
It seems to vary as to whether bootlegging is a crime in this country. After all, the Bronfmans made a fortune selling illicit booze across the border with the U. S. during Prohibition. How many of them went to jail in Canada?
So Trudeau went to China to negotiate a free-trade deal...
I find it repugnant that the feds choose to follow the constitution when they want to limit freedom, and not when it guarantees the people's freedom. This shouldn't have even gotten to a higher court, it's outside of their jurisdiction.
This would be best decided by a jury that was aware of sovereign jury rights, repeatedly not allowing the gov't of the day, to find people guilty of transporting goods across a provincial border. Whether it be barbecues, blue jeans, milk or beer, is of no consequence.
"I'd really like to know what gives the RCMP the right to search your vehicle if you're simply crossing a Provincial border."
By lying and saying you were driving erratically and pretending to search for drugs and/or alcohol. The thing I've always wondered about is don't judges ever get stopped for no reason whatsoever?
The RCMP reserves the right to party hearty with all the beer they can confiscate.
I was pulled over in MB and charged with having open alcohol in the car. Dudley Doright's definition of open alcohol was I had opened the case of beer. Not one bottle of beer had been opened. I said if the charge is open alcohol you won't mind if I pour out the contents of the bottles before they're confiscated. He didn't like that too much and made the roadside experience last an-hour-and-a-half to teach me a lesson.
This all happened during the summer of 1980 when there was a beer strike in BC and Alberta where I had just spent two weeks with no other beer than Olympia. First stop in MB was the beer store because the beer stores would be closed by the time we hit Ontario. I was traveling with two buddies and of course no one could agree on a single brand so we bought two 12s and put 6 of each in the cooler.
Dudley's logic was that "how was he to know that we weren't going to open up a beer a couple miles down the road." I told him he could follow us if he wanted and if we opened a beer he was more than welcome to charge us but at that point his interpretation of the law was more than extreme. I guess it didn't help that my friend had a church key hanging from the rear-view mirror.
Dudley Doright's definition of open alcohol was I had opened the case of beer. Not one bottle of beer had been opened.
I guess it depends on which police force one deals with. In the city, I believe the concern is that the driver could have alcohol within easy reach. While I lived in Saskatoon during the 1980s, I heard that one solution was to put any open bottles and, presumably, cases in the trunk.
I wonder what the unelected unaccountable sorcerers (interpreters) of the imposed Trudeau Charter will decree... will the State grant the peasants an arbitrary "freedom" or will they protect the racket... its all up to the unelected unaccountable political dictates of the "court" to decide what "freedoms" and "rights" Peeair would've graciously allowed for his people.
Easier said than done. Three guys in a two door Ford Granada with three weeks worth of camping gear and equipment left very little room to be quite so tidy. My point is officers should have and use discretion. I believe to this day that Dudley and his buddies partied on our beer knowing full well that we were from out of province and on our way home. If a crime has been committed, by all means make the charge, but because the possibility for a crime to be committed exists circumstantially has no basis in law, otherwise we could all be charged for almost anything.
I predict he will lose.
The Kleptocracy protects its own,
The bottom line is that the government controls every aspect of our lives, and some of the minions of government authority take that authority as a carte blanche right to act like a brown shirt. The congressional circus south of the border is a prime example of government authority run amok. If higher echelons of government are so knowingly corrupt why would we expect the lower ranks to be above board. Municipal, provincial, and federal politics are petri dishes for corruption and power. We have allowed ourselves to be ruled by people, who in their quest for power, promise us the moon and when elected tighten the collar around our throats. From baking a cake to buying beer to protecting ourselves, our individual freedoms have been erased one by one on the pretext of protecting the collective, and now the collective is no longer worth protecting.
That's what I think -- and for the same reason. This is a country where the little guy gets screwed. They will dream up some reason to keep these restrictions in place. So what if they are punitive and undemocratic.
"Naturally all the Provinces, Municipalities and the Feds are fighting this tooth and nail."
To paraphrase Swift, a true confederation of dunces.
Tip to the Federal Government on free trade: "Before any moral preening at other countries, first get your own house in order."
"I'd really like to know what gives the RCMP the right to search your vehicle if you're simply crossing a Provincial border."
It doesn't have the right to search your vehicle without probable cause.
And it's one thing to glance through your vehicle interior (which any police officer will discreetly do as a matter of course), another to demand that you open your trunk.
In the Alberta town where I grew up, the Mounties would look after us. One night we were driving out of town on our way to a bush party when a Mountie pulled us over. Seeing a case of beer by the passengers he said "How many times do I have to tell you guys to put the beer in the trunk?" The beer went in the trunk and we were on our way. Mounties sure were different 40 years ago.
"Where is the foundation, the justification, for us doing so as a court at a time when government are busy negotiating these matters?” McLachlin asked."
Usually,the politicians hide behind the SCC,but as BM is leaving soon,she's decided this one already,for her friends in Parliament.
Mounties sure were different 40 years ago.
Yup. Many years ago, while I was still in high school nearly 50 years ago, my father volunteered to deliver a piece of hardware to a gas plant some 500 km away from where we lived. We took off early on a Sunday afternoon and arrived several hours later. After a brief stop, we headed back and got back into town early the next morning.
My father's van was rather distinctive, being the only one of its kind in town. Shortly after we turned off the highway onto the main drag, one of the local Mounties pulled us over. Since he knew who we were, he apologized when he saw who was inside. The reason he gave was that he thought it strange to see the van being driven around at that hour of the day and figured it might have been stolen.
Back then, the town was small enough that everybody knew just about everyone else.
a constitution, of lawyers, by lawyers for lawyers.
So by this kind of thinking. Anything I bring from Alberta into BC while on Vacation: (my 300 Litres of Alberta refined Diesel - "Titan tank" for those that know), or my Costco bought case of wine, 48 can Box of beer & food etc could also be "reasonably" seized...??
Horse shit....