Rob Ford is back in business, for now
By Emma Teitel - Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - 0 Comments
Chris Young/CP
It was like an ancient parable. Toronto mayor Rob Ford (yes, he’s still mayor) had to pass three tests to win a stay and remain in power– until a judgment is made on his Jan. 7 appeal.
In order to win the stay Ford’s legal team had to prove that:
1. The case involves a serious question to be tried at appeal.
2. Refusing to grant the stay would cause Ford “irreparable harm.”
3. It is in the public’s best interest to do so.
“We have an elected official and we want to maintain the status quo so that the democratic way is maintained,” said Ford’s lawyer, Alan Lenczner, who looks and sounds a lot like Ron Paul.
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Rob Ford vs. Clayton Ruby
By Nicholas Köhler - Wednesday, September 5, 2012 at 8:41 PM - 0 Comments
‘I don’t recall,’ was the mantra during Toronto Mayor’s day in courtroom 6-1
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford walks out for a lunch break during his court appearance in Toronto, Wednesday, September 5, 2012. Mayor Ford faced an Ontario judge Wednesday to defend himself against a conflict of interest allegation that could see him kicked out of office. (Michelle Siu/The Canadian Press)
There was this morning a certain Inherit the Wind anticipation in the atmosphere outside courtroom 6-1, atop Toronto’s 361 University Ave. courthouse.
Above the crush of gathered reporters, the Buddy Holly-spectacle-wearing blogistas with jauntily disheveled hair and ironic ties, and the just plain morbidly curious, there was the sense that cross-examination sparks would soon fly, that a great legal mind would scalpel the fat from the muscle of truth or that–just maybe–Mayor Rob Ford would unleash himself on Clayton Ruby, LL.B, LL.M., for the gleeful benefit of anti-swell fantasists and pro-willful-ignorance enthusiasts everywhere.
Spencer Tracy vs. Frederic March? Well, not in the end. Instead it was something like what the Scopes trial would have been had the monkey actually taken the stand.
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Senate Smackdown
By kadyomalley - Wednesday, March 4, 2009 at 11:43 AM - 55 Comments
Okay, I apologize in advance for what is likely going to be a fairly lengthy and excerpt-filled post, but I really think it’s worth looking at exactly what went down yesterday when Senator Mac Harb – a Liberal – put forward a bill to amend the Fisheries Act to ban “commercial seal fishing”, or, as it is less euphemistically known, the seal hunt. At least, he attempted to do so — procedurally speaking, it didn’t go quite as smoothly as he likely would have hoped.
Let’s go to the tape, shall we? (By which, of course, we mean the Senate Hansard from yesterday):
