# Canadope 2015: Battlestar Canadica **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655 "2015-01-01T01:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/361 "2015-07-28T22:49:34Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Stephen Harper [**is like Jesus**](http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tory-mp-wai-young-backtracks-from-claim-csis-failed-to-warn-of-air-india-bombing-1.3152013) and CSIS knew of Air India bombing ahead of time and did nothing, Tory MP tells church congregation. Another asinine pack of lies to try to defend Bill C-51. That’s pretty much all they have left to defend it with - ludicrous lies. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/362 "2015-07-29T00:01:59Z")
And further weather news from Regina: the organisers of the Queen City Exhibition have cancelled the parade because of atrocious weather conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/363 "2015-07-29T00:07:04Z")
And in non-weather news, we have a new judge on the Supreme Court: the federal government has appointed Justice Russell Brown of the Alberta Court of Appeal to the SCC, effective August 31, when Justice Marshall Rothstein of Manitoba retires. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/364 "2015-07-29T00:16:09Z")
Forgot to post link: [Justice Russell Brown of Alberta named to Supreme Court | CBC News](http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/politics/justice-russell-brown-of-alberta-named-to-supreme-court-1.3170210) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/365 "2015-07-29T01:44:09Z")
I’m curious how he will work out. I doubt if a libertarian will be as supportive of the Harpers as they think he will be. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/366 "2015-07-29T02:08:15Z")
Is there an originalist school of thought in the Canadian legal tradition? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/367 "2015-07-29T02:44:43Z")
No, there isn’t. Our [constitution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_constitutional_documents) gradually evolved, and is still evolving. The judiciary use the living tree doctrine: [Wiki:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_tree_doctrine) > [@](#): > > In Canadian law, the living tree doctrine (French: théorie de l’arbre vivant) is a doctrine of constitutional interpretation that says that a constitution is organic and must be read in a broad and progressive manner so as to adapt it to the changing times. The living tree doctrine was set out by the Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council in its decision in [Henrietta Muir Edwards and others (Appeal No. 121 of 1928) v The Attorney General of Canada (Canada) [1929] UKPC 86 (18 October 1929)](http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/1929/1929_86.html). At issue was whether or not women could be appointed to Canada’s Parliament’s Senate. > [@](#): > > The British North America Act planted in Canada a living tree capable of growth and expansion within its natural limits. The object of the Act was to grant a Constitution to Canada. > > " Like all written constitutions it has been subject to development through usage and convention." (Canadian Constitutional Studies, Sir Robert Borden (1922), p. 55). > > Their Lordships do not conceive it to be the duty of this Board—it is certainly not their desire— to cut down the provisions of the Act by a narrow and technical construction, but rather to give it a large and liberal interpretation so that the Dominion to a great extent, but within certain fixed limits, may be mistress in her own house, as the provinces to a great extent, but within certain fixed limits, are mistresses in theirs. > > “The Privy Council, indeed, has laid down that Courts of law must treat the provisions of the British North America Act by the same methods of construction and exposition which they apply to other statutes. But there are statutes and statutes ; and the strict construction deemed proper in the case, for example, of a penal or taxing statute or one passed to regulate the affairs of an English parish, would be often subversive of Parliament’s real intent if applied to an Act passed to ensure the peace order and good government of a British Colony.” See Clement’s Canadian Constitution, ed. 3, page 347. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/368 "2015-07-29T02:46:21Z")
No, for several reasons. First, we don’t have an equivalent to the Federalist Papers, as a comprehensive policy extrapolation of the Constitution. Second, the closest we have is the Confederation Debates in the Canadian legislature. However, they are not a great source. there are some useful parts, but for the most part, not much. They give a good a count of the political motivation for Confederation, but no grand theoretical exposition. Third, the Debates only give the views of Canadian politicians. We don’t have much at all from the Atlantic politicians of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, who accepted the deal, and Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, who rejected it originally. Fourth, the Confederation Debates in Canada, as well the parliamentary debates in the British Parliament, were inadmissible in the Canadian courts and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Under the canons of statutory interpretation in force until the later 20th century, the courts would not look at parliamentary debates travaux préparatoires. Only the text itself of the Act could be considered. That approach has by and large carried forward in to Charter interpretation as well. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/369 "2015-07-29T03:08:21Z")
I really, really can’t believe people are complaining about the heat here in the east. We just had the coldest February in recorded history. Now the temperatures are in the low 30s and people are complaining and freaking out. Holy shit. These are the temperatures I dreamed of in February. I don’t even have air conditioning in my country bungalow and am LOVING this weather. I would take this year round if possible. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/370 "2015-07-29T03:38:09Z")
> [@leaffan](#): > > i really, really can’t believe people are complaining about the heat here in the east. > > We just had the coldest february in recorded history. Now the temperatures are in the low 30s and people are complaining and freaking out. Holy shit. These are the temperatures i dreamed of in february. I don’t even have air conditioning in my country bungalow and am loving this weather. > > I would take this year round if possible. He’s not a true Canadian! [del]Burn him![/del] Freeze him! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/371 "2015-07-29T03:58:33Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > He’s not a true Canadian! [del]Burn him![/del] Freeze him! Well, it’s true I wasn’t born here. Which is even more reason to appreciate the heat! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/372 "2015-07-29T04:20:31Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > I’m curious how he will work out. I doubt if a libertarian will be as supportive of the Harpers as they think he will be. I guess we will see. I had the good fortune to be one of Russell Brown’s students when I was at U of Alberta Law School. He was a great teacher who really knew his stuff. Plus, he kicked off every class with a lawyer joke. Very approachable, very friendly, very understanding. And politics never entered the picture in class. With some professors, it did; but never with Russell Brown. I’m left with the impression that he will be as impartial as he can be. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/373 "2015-07-29T12:58:39Z")
Glad to hear that. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/374 "2015-07-29T16:11:13Z")
I do wonder, though, about him only having 2 1/2 years on the bench prior to appointment to the SCC. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/375 "2015-08-02T15:50:43Z")
Good Morning folks! The writs of election have been issued. I invite all interested parties (even Parties, if they should care to join) to join The Longest Election in Modern Canada thread, [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=763995) ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/376 "2015-08-02T20:55:02Z")
Is it really the longest, or will it only seem like the longest? (…maybe both.) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/377 "2015-08-05T00:42:14Z")
The local arts and culture magazine wrote up one of our jaunts to the Dairy Queen. Article at p. 35 [The Walleye Magazine](http://www.thewalleye.ca/Digital/august2015/index.html) Pics at [Here... - The Walleye - Thunder Bay's Arts & Culture Magazine | Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/TheWalleye/posts/1046428192036380) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/378 "2015-08-05T01:45:16Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > The local arts and culture magazine wrote up one of our jaunts to the Dairy Queen. > Article at p. 35 [The Walleye Magazine](http://www.thewalleye.ca/Digital/august2015/index.html) > Pics at [The Walleye - Thunder Bay's Arts & Culture Magazine](https://www.facebook.com/TheWalleye/posts/1046428192036380) Nice! ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/379 "2015-08-12T14:11:26Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > The local arts and culture magazine wrote up one of our jaunts to the Dairy Queen. > Article at p. 35 [The Walleye Magazine](http://www.thewalleye.ca/Digital/august2015/index.html) > Pics at [The Walleye - Thunder Bay's Arts & Culture Magazine](https://www.facebook.com/TheWalleye/posts/1046428192036380) What a great magazine, thanks for sharing! ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655/380 "2015-08-12T16:14:00Z")
Thanks. I’ll pass on your comment the next time I bump into one of the editors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadope-2015-battlestar-canadica/708655.md?page=20)