[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[crazy canuck]

And yet, a few years later, we're in a full blown opioid crisis that safe injection sites did not prevent. 

You are slowly but surely understanding why the next step is now being taken.

I am glad to see the progress you are making.

The point is valid, but to be perfectly fair it was said by Viper, not myself.

In what fevered right wing dream were safe injection sites set up to save middle class and rich folks from overdose deaths.

 

[Barrister]

And yet, a few years later, we're in a full blown opioid crisis that safe injection sites did not prevent. 

You are slowly but surely understanding why the next step is now being taken.

I am glad to see the progress you are making.

The point is valid, but to be perfectly fair it was said by Viper, not myself.

In what fevered right wing dream were safe injection sites set up to save middle class and rich folks from overdose deaths.

 

Why don't you take it up with Viper who said it?

[viper37]

In what fevered right wing dream were safe injection sites set up to save middle class and rich folks from overdose deaths.

Obviously, being middle class isn't worthy of consideration in this country.  You're overtaxed, you don't received proper medical services when you need them and when not enough, you're asked to sacrifice what little quality of life you have for... nothing?

[viper37]

Now, since we have established that there are no investigations being made specifically to arrest someone solely for drug possession, what money will be saved and how much imaginary money will be fueled into helping addicts to recover from their addiction and what is the projected rate of decrease for drug addiction of this program?  Also, what is the projected increase of crime rate due to reduced sentencing of criminals?

[crazy canuck]

And yet, a few years later, we're in a full blown opioid crisis that safe injection sites did not prevent. 

You are slowly but surely understanding why the next step is now being taken.

I am glad to see the progress you are making.

The point is valid, but to be perfectly fair it was said by Viper, not myself.

In what fevered right wing dream were safe injection sites set up to save middle class and rich folks from overdose deaths.

 

Why don't you take it up with Viper who said it?

You said he had a good point 

Maybe I misunderstood you, what point did you think he made that was valid?

[viper37]

This kind of ruling is why I mistrust judge sometimes.  Sigh


Momentary loss of control result in loss of pedestrian life

you will need Google Tranlate, the link is on French, sorry, I can't do better on my tablet.

Summary:
A man comes back from the job after working a 12hr shift.  He began his day 2hrs earlier than usualat 4:00am.

Coming back from work around 18h00, he crosses a section of the street where the limit was 30kmh, suddenly accelerated to 80kmh, went on the sidewalk, nearly hit 2 people and unfortumately killed an 82 year old lady before finishing his course on a tree.

After his arrest, during his transit to the police station, he fell asleep in the police car. Right after killing someone.

The crown was charching him with the same crime as impaired driving, since they say he drove his car whie being extremely tired.

The defense: I wasn't tired, I had slept 67hrs the night before, I'm used to 50hrs weeks.  I do not remember what happenned prior to the accident.  One minute I was driving 30kmh, the next I have hot a tree on the sidewalk and I don't know I got there.


This to me describes excatly someoeme who was asleep at the wheel...

And so, the judge acquitted him, saying she found no proof je was tires when he left work.

[Josephus]

Judges do make strange rulings sometimes. I blame it on lawyers. (although in this case it was a paralegal). Here there was a case recently where a young man was caught by speed cameras driving 120km/hr in a 50 zone at 3:15 a.m.. His parents decided to go to court because being modern-day parents, of course, they believed their son when he says he didn't do it. The judge eventually threw out the case because the police in charge of the speed camera could not prove that the camera was in working order.

In the early morning of Aug. 15, 2021, an automated speed camera on Avenue Road whirred into action.

At 3:12 a.m. it took a photo that a provincial offences officer would later attest showed a driver racing north on the six-lane roadway at 121 km/h, well above the posted limit of 50 km/h in an area designated a community safety zone.

The city issued a ticket to the owner of the vehicle, as it had done thousands of times since Toronto's automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras were first deployed in 2020. But then something unexpected happened.

The owner, facing a fine of about $1,400, challenged the ticket, and won. In December, the Ontario Court of Justice dismissed the charge after the man behind the wheel swore he wasn't speeding, and the officer who signed off on the ticket couldn't provide technical details explaining how he knew the camera was accurate.

Legal experts say the case is a rare instance of a speed camera charge being overturned, and shows the legal system is still settling questions about the reliability of the new-to-Toronto devices, which have already been used to issue more than half a million fines.


Paul Periti, the paralegal who represented the defendant, said the decision indicates the cameras "are not reliable."

"These are self operating mechanical devices that are not checked daily" and are vulnerable to vandalism, he told the Star, describing the cameras as a "cash grab" that don't deter speeding.

City of Toronto spokesperson Magdalena Stec said the municipality is reviewing the decision, but asserted that the acquittal "does not mean that the ASE system is not accurate."


She said the cameras, 50 of which are rotated throughout Toronto as part of its Vision Zero road safety plan, are not a revenue generating tool, but "are designed to enhance road safety." Researchers have found the devices have reduced speeding.

The cameras aren't able to determine who was at the wheel at the time of an alleged offence, so fines are levied against whoever owns the vehicle. In this case, the defendant was Ooma Ramroop, but it was her son, Blayne Kumar, who was driving at the time.

According to the Dec. 1, 2022 decision by justice of the peace Roger Rodrigues, during a one-day trial last October, Kumar, who is 35, testified he was certain he hadn't been speeding, because he knew there was a "speed trap" on that stretch of Avenue and was always sure to set his cruise control to less than 50 km/h as he drove by.

David Powers, the provincial offences officer who certified the photograph, testified to the accuracy of the camera evidence. He said the vehicle's licence plate was clearly visible in the image and the readout showed a speed of 121 km/h.

But under cross-examination, the officer couldn't explain how the city's speed cameras are powered, or when the device on Avenue had been installed. He also said there was only one vehicle in the photograph, when a second car was visible.

In what the justice of the peace said was key testimony, Powers also couldn't say when the speed camera had last been tested for accuracy. By law the devices have to be calibrated within 12 months before an alleged offence, and while the officer said a certificate of accuracy for the camera was posted to the city website, he couldn't name the company that provided it.

The certificate for the camera at Avenue and MacPherson is still posted online, and shows it was calibrated on Sept. 21, 2020, within the mandated time frame. It doesn't appear this evidence was presented at trial. The device has since been relocated.

Justice of the peace Rodrigues found that the officer's cross-examination "materially lessened" the strength of his evidence, and the driver's testimony "contained adequate detail to be considered plausible." He determined the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the vehicle had been speeding.

Daniel Brown, a Toronto-based lawyer and adjunct professor at Queen's University's Faculty of Law, said the dismissal is uncommon.

City statistics show that between July 2020 and November 2022 Toronto's speed cameras were used to issue more than 590,000 charges. Neither the city nor the Ontario attorney general could immediately provide numbers on how many of the charges have been tossed by the courts.

But Brown said it's "difficult to mount a credible challenge" to evidence from the cameras, and attempting to do so is usually "cost-prohibitive."

Fines are calculated according to how much over the limit the vehicle was going, and are usually small enough that it would cost more to fight them than to pay. And because the charges are laid against the car owner, not necessarily the person driving, they don't come with demerit points or increased insurance rates, meaning there is less incentive to dispute them than speeding tickets issued directly by police.

Periti said Ramroop chose to fight the charge in this case because "it was a false accusation" and the fine was "extreme." She didn't have to pay to dispute it becasue Periti, who is a friend, represented her for free.

Brown said the defence's arguments echo legal challenges to earlier technology like Breathalyzers, the accuracy of which was frequently disputed when they were first introduced decades ago.

"I think there is always a process early on where people will probe at the deficiencies in the machines, and once the technology is understood and trusted, these challenges tend to dissipate," he said.

It's far from clear the case will set a precedent that will lead to more charges being thrown out.

That's in part because the city is removing speed cameras from the courts' jurisdiction to an administrative penalty system, which will refer disputes over tickets to a tribunal. The change, the date for which has not yet been set, is intended to free up the courts and allow the city to process more tickets as it expands its speed camera program.

Toronto plans to have 25 more speed cameras operational by February, and Mayor John Tory has pledged to increase the deployment to 150 by 2026.

[Barrister]

Judges can be dumb - this is true.

[Barrister]

Liberals withdraw Bill C-21 amendments that would have banned numerous hunting rifles in wide use in Canada.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-withdraws-firearms-law-amendments-1.6735828

Good.

[crazy canuck]

In a statement, Mendicino said the proposed amendments prompted "considerable discussion about the best way to move forward" and "legitimate concerns" were raised by critics "about the need for more consultation and debate."

"We hear those concerns loud and clear, regret the confusion that this process has caused and are committed to a thoughtful and respectful conversation that is based on facts, not fear," he said.

One wonders why they did not do any of this work before introducing the amendments.


Of course I kid, we know the reason.  This was never about undertaking a thoughtful review and update of the legislation.  An interesting insight Morneau has in his book, is that Trudeau is focused on getting good social media responses - not so much on developing good public policy.

One of the things that was admirable about Harper, regardless of whether one agreed with his decisions, is he was focused on what he believed was the development of good public policy.

With the challenges we face, we could really benefit from a PM focused on the longer term, rather than the news cycle.

[viper37]

One of the things that was admirable about Harper, regardless of whether one agreed with his decisions, is he was focused on what he believed was the development of good public policy.

With the challenges we face, we could really benefit from a PM focused on the longer term, rather than the news cycle.

If only we had one candidate like that.

[crazy canuck]

Agreed, if only

[HVC]

Toronto mayor, John Tory, stuck his pen in the company ink and is now stepping down. Never got why adulterers have to quit. They lie to the public all the time, why can't they lie to their spouse too?

[Josephus]

I don't think it's lying to their spouse that's the problem here. It's the company ink.

[HVC]

But even when it's non company ink it runs political careers ( in North america).