Law Times

PAGE 6 u EDITORIAL OBITER By Glenn Kauth Let clerks be called to the bar F Among the drawbacks are the fact that clerkships oſt en pay less than the big law fi rms off er. Still, particularly at a time when articling posi- tions are scarce, there' or an articling student, there are many benefi ts to taking a court clerkship. Th ey include developing strong legal research skills, pres- tige, exposure to court procedures, and contact with judges. for graduating law students. But what about those who work as clerks aſt er their articling period? as noted on page 1 this week, the government mandates contract terms preventing their call to the bar as a condition of continued employment. Th e Association of Law Offi cers of the Crown disputes that condi- While many of the advantages remain, the government has imposed a signifi cant drawback: those clerks can't be called to the bar. Th at' s because, tion. It took the matter to arbitration, where it argued that law graduates who continue to work as clerks following the normal 10-month articling term should come under the collective agreement pertaining to lawyers. It maintained the restriction on being called to the bar was contrary to law. Th e government, meanwhile, denied there was a breach of the col- lective agreement. In particular, it relied on a provision mandating that "in no case shall persons be employed as students aſt er their call to the bar. comply with the provision aſt er it took eff ect in 2007. eral government not to destroy the Que- bec portion of the gun registry. It accounts for about 1.6 million of P " As such, it argued it introduced the restriction in order to While there's a superfi cial logic to it, the govern- ment's overall reasoning in Management Board of Cabinet v. Association of Law Offi cers of the Crown was rather strange. If it can't employ them as stu- dents aſt er their call to the bar, why not employ them as lawyers? Th e reason, of course, is fi nancial. As arbitrator William Kaplan noted, the govern- ment' s policy "strongly suggests that the prohibi- tion on the call to the bar is driven by a desire" to avoid paying the Crown counsel rate and a prefer- ence to instead pay people as articling students. Of course, this is unfair. Clerks with more expe- s no doubt that clerkships are a popular option COMMENT September 17, 2012 • Law timeS rience bring added skills to the job and restricting their call to the bar can hold their careers back. Th e government' doesn't justify its policy in this area. So let the clerks be called to the bar. s fi nancial concerns are real, but that — Glenn Kauth Judge deals emphatic blow to federal gov't on gun registry The Hill ublic Safety Minister Vic Toews had a strange reaction to a Que- bec Superior Court decision last week that ordered the fed- the eight million fi rearms registered in Canada. But Toews says the gun registry is "wasteful and ineffi cient." Canada' argument that some people are sick and tired of being lumped in with criminals? What about the complaint that every time there' Th ey use it about 30,000 times a day. But who are you going to believe — s police forces say otherwise. Toews or police who tell us it helps solve crimes and save lives? Yves Francoeur of the Montreal Police Brotherhood says the information about guns that police retrieve from the registry is an "extremely relevant tool" in tracking down criminals and fi ghting crime. Why, you might ask, would so many shooting, murder or robbery somewhere, the cops show up at legitimate gun owners' doorsteps demanding to see their weapons just because their ballistics have linked the crime to the same type of gun they happen to own? What about gun profi ling? If a gov- s a they're suspects or not. With- out a gun registry, the cops can only guess at where they can fi nd the same kind of weapon as the one used in the crime. Some people go even fur- Richard Cleroux cops insist on using something that Toews calls wasteful and ineffi cient? Couldn't Toews have come up with a better excuse for destroying something police consider so valuable? What' stroying data already collected? Why make it impossible for the cops to keep at least part of the data up to date? Couldn't Toews have pointed to the s with this obsession with de- Law Times LT Masthead.indd 1 ernment decides it wants to confi scate all of the Ruger Mini-14s, the kind of weapon that killed the 14 women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, what happens to the law-abiding owners of those guns? Do they lose t hem? Toews could have said most gun owners are merely hunters, shooters, and farmers and that if there' armed robbery in a neighbourhood, the cops really have no need to show up at people' s a shooting or ing and demand to see a registered gun of the same calibre and make as the one used in the crime. Th e gun lovers don't want to be lumped in with criminals whether s doorsteps with the lights fl ash- types of weapons and then, eventually, all guns. Now where would I be with my God-given right to own guns? A majority of Canadians in every ther. Th ey suggest that if the cops have a registry of all of the guns in the country, the government could someday decide to confi scate some When a judge starts talking about in- fringement and provincial powers in the same sentence, you should start thinking about the C-word — as in constitutional — and then you know the case will be going further up the line. Th e last thing Prime Minister Ste- Th e judge wasn't fooling around. phen Harper wants is another constitu- tional case, especially one with Quebec involved. Th at' province but Alberta want to keep the gun registry. A majority of gun own- ers probably don't. But why should gun owners have priority over other Canadi- ans in deciding public safety? Last week' somed into a full-blown constitutional issue that will be with us for years. It wasn't supposed to be that way. Superior Court Justice Marc-André s court decision has blos- Blanchard went much further in his word- ing on the issue than anyone expected. He said the federal government had "infringed upon the powers of the provinces in a very substantial and even exorbitant" way. Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON • M1T 3V4 Tel: 416-298-5141 • Fax: 416-649-7870 • www.lawtimesnews.com Group Publisher ................... Karen Lorimer Editorial Director ................... Gail J. Cohen Editor .............................. Glenn Kauth Staff Writer ....................... Kendyl Sebesta Staff Writer ................... Michael McKiernan Copy Editor ...................... Mallory Hendry CaseLaw Editor ................. Adela Rodriguez Art Director ...................... Alicia Adamson Production Co-ordinator ............. Catherine Giles Electronic Production Specialist ....... Derek Welford Advertising Sales ............... Kimberlee Pascoe Sales Co-ordinator ................... Sandy Shutt ©2012 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without writ- ten permission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the pub- lisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times disclaims any war- ranty as to the accuracy, completeness or cur- rency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of Law Times is printed on newsprint containing 25-30 per cent post- consumer recycled materials. Please recycle this newspaper. any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. Publications Mail Agreement Number 40762529 • ISSN 0847-5083 Law Times is published 40 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd., 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON, M1T 3V4 • 416-298-5141 clb.lteditor@thomsonreuters.com CIRCULATIONS & SUBSCRIPTIONS $175.00 + HST per year in Canada (HST Reg. #R121351134) and $265.00 for foreign addresses. Single copies are $4.00 Circulation www.lawtimesnews.com 8/16/12 4:04 PM brought the issue on himself. It would have been so easy to let the Quebec government keep its own gun registry. It' But that's too bad for him. He s what he said last week. Blanchard emphasized it when he used the words "without any rational or func- tional justifi cation" to describe the fed- eral government' s too late now. Just so nobody would miss the point, "no legal justifi cation." But to say "rational justifi cation" refers to what an intelligent person would think. Th e only words to make it worse would have been to call federal decision-makers nuts. He could have simply used the term s approach. LT Richard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His e- mail address is richardcleroux@rogers.com. inquiries, postal returns and address changes should include a copy of the mailing label(s) and should be sent to Law Times One Corpo- rate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto ON, M1T 3V4. Return postage guaranteed. Contact Ellen Alstein at ............416-649-9926 or fax: 416-649-7870 ellen.alstein@thomsonreuters.com ADVERTISING Advertising inquiries and materials should be directed to Sales, Law Times, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON, M1T 3V4 or call: Karen Lorimer ....................................416-649-9411 karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com Kimberlee Pascoe ..............................416-649-8875 kimberlee.pascoe@thomsonreuters.com Sandy Shutt ...... sandra.shutt@thomsonreuters.com

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