Law Times

Page 6 April 23, 2018 • lAw Times www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT u EDITORIAL OBITER By Gabrielle Giroday ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reli- ance 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. 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Karen Lorimer Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Brown Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabrielle Giroday Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alex Robinson Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patricia Cancilla CaseLaw Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leah Craven Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phyllis Barone Production Co-ordinator . . . . . Jacqueline D'Souza Electronic Production Specialist . . . Derek Welford Read the fine print R ecently, the Canadian Bar Association offered carefully word- ed recommendations to a federal finance committee tasked with reviewing the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. While the goals of the act are admirable — preventing money laundering and financing of violent groups — the act has problem- atic implications for lawyers across the country. Lawyers groups are continuing to call on Parliament to amend the act to comply with a Supreme Court of Canada ruling from 2015, which states that certain portions of the legislation violate solicitor-client privilege. The deci- sion, Canada (Attorney General) v. Federation of Law Societies of Canada, said, "It should be recognized as a principle of fundamental justice that the state cannot impose duties on lawyers that undermine their duty of commitment to their clients' causes." "There are potentially gaps now in the legislation, and it's incum- bent upon Parliament to fix them," says Nader Hasan, a lawyer in Toronto, who says that means removing "zombie provisions" the act contains. "Regardless of whether Parliament takes them out, they'll still be of no force or effect. . . . [T]o make the law clearer and more ac- cessible to the public at large, the statute should be cleaned up." The Canadian Bar Association also recently raised concerns. "Any law or regulation that requires lawyers to monitor and collect information about their clients for state purposes undermines the duty of loyalty owed by lawyers to their clients and significantly weakens the independence of the Bar," says the CBA submission. The CBA is right- fully calling on the federal government to revise the act "to remove offending sections and clarify which sections do not apply to members of the le- gal profession." "That would give clarity to readers unfamiliar with the SCC decision and avoid mistaken appli- cation of this legislation going forward," says the submission. Obviously, it's time for the federal gov- ernment to read the fine print of the SCC decision and make the appropriate changes. Hurry up. LT No good deed goes unpunished in politics BY IAN HARVEY A s the rhetoric builds in advance of the June 7 general election, the tone is shaping up as one side slagging the other, ad nauseum. Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford was quick off the mark in attacking Premier Kathleen Wynne. She responded by launching $1 mil- lion in attack ads seeded with assump- tions about what Ford might do if elected, playing the smear-and-fear card. It will get worse and less civil from here on in with polls showing the PCs holding steady at 37 per cent of voters and the Liberals down at 26 per cent and the NDP at 18 per cent. The key number, however, is that 77 per cent of voters want change and that doesn't bode well for the Liberals. There are a host of reasons for those numbers because the Liberals got a lot wrong over the last 15 years. There was ignoring their promise to not introduce new taxes and then bring- ing in the health-care levy to the Green Energy Act. There was the gas plant cancellations and resulting coverup. There was the sell-off of Hydro One, eHealth, carbon cap and trade and an addiction to deficit budgeting and uncontrolled spending. Hardly a week goes by without a damaging head- line. The most recent is the dis- closure that the Liberals paid the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association $31 mil- lion, which in turn triggered a complaint by two public teach- ers' unions at the Ontario La- bour Relations Board. But enough about failures. The bigger question is what positive change did the Liberals effect during their 15-year run in power? Off the top, raising the minimum wage to $14 an hour and tightening the rules around part-time workers and ben- efits is long overdue and just. The quibble is with the way it has been implemented, without consultation and the ensuing disruption for retailers and small businesses. On the labour front, a change to the Ontario Labour Relations Act will protect Ontario unions from being strong-armed by their American head offices. Last year, the Amalgamated Transit Union slapped the TTC Local 113 in Toronto into trusteeship and removed its president when there was a mere murmur about switch- ing to become part of a Cana- dian union. It's a battle the United Auto- mobile Workers went through before forming the Canadian Auto Workers and then merg- ing into Unifor. Decisions about represen- tation should always be made locally without threat of inter- ference and the change recog- nizes that. The Safe Access to Abortion Services Act that went into effect this year is an- other positive piece of legislation setting up a 50-metre safe zone around clinics. Women no longer need to run the gauntlet and suffer the abuse of zealots determined to prevent them from access- ing a legal procedure. Also, while it wasn't a direct home run, Wynne's stubborn pledge to introduce an Ontario Pension Plan forced improvements in the Canada Pension Plan. One of the biggest achievements, however, has been Wynne's implementa- tion of a modernized sex education cur- riculum. Wynne succeeded where Mc- Guinty failed. He withdrew the legislation in 2010, claiming he hadn't been fully briefed on the controversy contents and that there hadn't been enough frank discussion with parents' groups. Five years later, Wynne pushed it through. She shrugged off the outrage from a coalition of right-wing Christians and ethnic groups horrified that their chil- dren might learn about masturbation in Grade Six. Ford should tread cautiously regarding his promise to "review" it be- cause, by and large, it's a laudable ap- proach to sexual health and one that has been savagely distorted by detractors. In politics, you reap what you sow. Wynne's disruptive activism funded by deficit spending (as well as new and high- er taxes) has as much to do with her poll- ing numbers as the general mismanage- ment of major files such as energy. It's likely the negative takeaways that will shape her government's political epi- taph, but we should at least acknowledge the positive. LT uIan Harvey has been a journalist for more than 40 years, writing about a di- verse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His email address is ianharvey@rogers.com. Queen's Park Ian Harvey

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