Ontario’s Civil Remedies Act, however, does not require a criminal conviction, so the province moved in and seized the goods after receiving judicial approval. A judge can give permission based on a balance of probabilities that the goods were proceeds of crime, a standard that is not as high as the criminal test of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. [1]
There is a certain dignity involved in massive corruption like that suggested in Doom’s previous post. After all, economic crime that surpasses High Treason by orders of magnitude is the customary way great civilizations rot from the inside. Why should today be different? It’s not like someone at Yale is going to get to register a trademark on "Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely."
By contrast, the Ladies’ Auxiliary of Pax Americana is descending into farce. For some unfathomable reason, my country’s highest court has seen fit [1] to institutionalize a Tijuana-style narcs-robbing-pushers method for keeping the ol’ coffee fund topped up. Open to abuse or what?
UPDATE: (hat tip to Freedom’s Phoenix via twist): this Sun columnist has added some serious concern to the mix.[3]
To the surprise of at least one legal expert, the Supreme Court of Canada last week unanimously gave the provinces incredible powers to seize assets allegedly connected to crime.
For a country that has gained the reputation, whether deserved or not, of protecting the rights of the accused over the rights of victims, it’s quite an about-face.
My local rag, bless their hearts, accidentally reported the truth on this issue earlier today. The title for this blog post is the actual unretouched print edition headline for this followup story [2] as we read it on page A10 at breakfast. Note that the online editor realized how badly the print editor had let the cat out of the bag and "fixed" one critical word. Priceless.
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[1]: "Top court upholds provincial right to seize property", by Janice Tibbetts, CanWest / The Province, April 17, 2009.
[2]: "N.S. may soon seize ill-gotten gains", Halifax Chronicle-Herald, July 21, 2009.
[3]: "Cops can now ‘take all your stuff’ ", by Mindelle Jacobs, Winnipeg Sun, April 21, 2009.
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Not enough evidence to charge the young man, but enough evidence to seize his possessions?
Igor says, “horrors”. So do I.
Would you like him to pick up some tea bags for you when he heads to the market for some spam?
Of course. You don’t own property anyway – anything you have is borrowed or stolen from the rightful ownership of the state, and/or you only have it because some other guy remotely related to you a hundred years ago, or not related to you at all, oppressed someone else’s great great great grandparents, so the state can take it all back when it pleases and distribute it as they like. Welcome to the new freedom!