Why won’t this goddamn genie fit back in this bottle: Supreme Court
March 15, 2007 · By Joel
Franco is still dead.
The Supreme Court still thinks* Canadians are too stupid to be trusted:
[The] Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the longstanding legal ban on reporting early vote results on federal election nights in regions of the country where the polls are still open.
In a 5-4 decision on Thursday, the court ruled the ban can be justified under the Charter of Rights.
What else is new?
*For the record, regardless of what the Court thinks, anyone with an Internet connection and half a brain can find this information on election night, and our democracy hasn’t crashed to a screeching halt just yet.
The last federal election being a case in point, bloggers and political junkies from all over Canada were to be found in at least 2 IRC channels discussing local results as they happened and letting their friends on the west in on the trends hours before the polls there closed.
Actually, PARLIAMENT thinks Canadians are too stupid to be trusted. PARLIAMENT wrote the Election Act, not the Supreme Court. The Court simply ruled the Act is constitutional.
Poor Supremes. When they rule laws are unconstitutional, they get attacked by conservatives for thwarting the will of Parliament. When they rule a law is constitutional, they get attacked by conservatives for NOT thwarting the will of Parliament.
They just can’t win with you guys.
You’re confusing me for a conservative. I’m actually a libertarian, so I’m usually happy when the courts rule laws to be unconstitutional or otherwise expand the scope of Canadians’ rights. I have no problem with the will of Parliament being thwarted if Parliament wishes to infringe on individual rights.
I just wish the Court was as solicitious with respect to speech rights as it is, say, with respect to the rights of religious minorities — both types deserve protection, only one seems to get any.
Elections Canada should withhold results until BC polls close rather than running around prosecuting people. Political junkies will have to start their engines later in the evening. Boohoo.
Even if Elections Canada didn’t withhold the results, they would still get out to the media and others via the scrutineers from the various local campaigns.
The only ways to completely prevent results from the East from getting to the West ahead of time would be:
1. Make the polls close in Newfoundland and BC at the exact same time.
2. Sequester all the scrutineers in every riding until the polls have closed in BC.
3. Don’t start counting the ballot in any riding until the polls have closed in BC.
That should be “Even if Elections Canada did withhold the results…”