I wrote up a lovely rant today while I was at work, and delayed posting it until I could get home to my computer so I could add the links in. Sadly it seems that he who hesitates is lost… I didn’t get home until after midnight, and some new information came out this afternoon. So now I have to do some editing.
Here’s the planned rant:
Two weeks ago the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that municipalities can no longer pray at the start of town council meetings. The response to this has been... interesting. I've seen news from both Kelowna and Calgary saying they aren't sure how they'll change.
The Supreme Court has been the highest court in Canada for decades. They can't appeal to the Queen's Privy Council anymore.
So what exactly is the plan here? To secede? To get removed from office and go to prison? To resign rather than comply? It would be nice to see a little clarity on this.
The Kelowna council is floating the option of not changing and simply hoping nobody complains. I'm not sure how well that would work. Not being a Kelowna resident I doing I could be the plaintiff... but there are lots of people who would jump at the chance.
And it's not like this would be a tough case, either. It's already settled law. That's kind of what Supreme means.
I wonder if city councils want the rest of us to pick and choose which laws we'll comply with?
This afternoon, the Kelowna city council announced they would be suspending the prayer and replacing it with a recitation of their Oath of Office. It looks like they waited as long as they could before they resume the session on Tuesday. It’s nice to see them acknowledge the new case law… and it will be interesting to find out if they get bored with the oath and try to mix it up.
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