King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive in Ottawa for official Canadian visit
King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive in Ottawa, greeted by Prime Minister Mark Carney, his wife, and other dignitaries as their Canadian visit begins.
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CTV News
19 minutes ago
- CTV News
Canada's federal voting system is constitutional, Ontario Court of Appeal rules
A sample ballot box is seen at Elections Canada's offices in Gatineau, Que., on Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang OTTAWA — A panel of three Ontario Court of Appeal judges unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system in a ruling released on Monday. The system, laid out in the Canada Elections Act, sees the candidate who receives the most votes in a given riding or electoral district become the member of Parliament. Fair Voting BC and the Springtide Collective for Democratic Society argued in court that the first-past-the-post system violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms' guarantee of effective representation. The groups also said the system leads to the under-representation of women and other groups in Parliament, breaching the Charter's equality rights provision. In a proportional representation system, the number of representatives a party elects reflects the percentage of the total vote the party receives. In November 2023, the Ontario Superior Court dismissed the challenge from Fair Voting BC and Springtide. It said that while a proportional representation system would be a fair alternative to the current system, it's not required by the Constitution. In its decision, the province's Court of Appeal also rejected the groups' key arguments. 'The electoral system is not in conflict with either the right to vote or the right to equality. It does not violate the Charter,' Justice Grant Huscroft said in written reasons delivered on behalf of another judge on the panel. 'The appellants' arguments that the electoral system violates the Charter are, in essence, a repackaging of failed political arguments as constitutional rights violations.' The expert evidence 'put forward in support' of those arguments, Huscroft wrote, is 'replete with highly contestable policy arguments about which reasonable disagreement abounds, not only in the academic community but amongst the public at large.' 'This evidence demonstrates the shortcomings of constitutional litigation in addressing public policy disagreements,' he added. The short answer to the argument that the electoral system violates the Charter is that Canadian citizens are free to vote for anyone they choose, and for any reason they choose, Huscroft added. 'There is no constitutional requirement that their individual choices aggregate in a way that achieves some ideal of representational diversity,' he wrote. 'Neither the political party affiliation nor the personal characteristics of the candidates who win election are relevant to the constitutionality of the electoral system.' During the 2015 election campaign, then-Liberal leader Justin Trudeau promised it would be the last federal election held under the first-past-the-post system. Once in office, however, Trudeau's government abandoned his pledge to replace the system. Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
CBC
20 minutes ago
- CBC
Canada's voting system is constitutional, Ontario Court of Appeal rules
Social Sharing A panel of three Ontario Court of Appeal judges unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system in a ruling released on Monday. The system, laid out in the Canada Elections Act, sees the candidate who receives the most votes in a given riding or electoral district become the member of Parliament. Fair Voting BC and the Springtide Collective for Democratic Society argued in court that the system violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms' guarantee of effective representation. The groups also said the system leads to the underrepresentation of women and other groups in Parliament, breaching the Charter's equality rights provision. In a proportional representation system, the number of representatives a party elects reflects the percentage of the total vote the party receives. In November 2023, the Ontario Superior Court dismissed the challenge from Fair Voting BC and Springtide. It said that while a proportional representation system would be a fair alternative to the current system, it's not required by the Constitution. In its decision, the province's Court of Appeal also rejected the groups' key arguments. "The electoral system is not in conflict with either the right to vote or the right to equality. It does not violate the Charter," Justice Grant Huscroft said in written reasons delivered on behalf of another judge on the panel. "The appellants' arguments that the electoral system violates the Charter are, in essence, a repackaging of failed political arguments as constitutional rights violations." Limitations of litigating policy disputes The expert evidence "put forward in support" of those arguments, Huscroft wrote, is "replete with highly contestable policy arguments about which reasonable disagreement abounds, not only in the academic community but amongst the public at large… "This evidence demonstrates the shortcomings of constitutional litigation in addressing public policy disagreements." The short answer to the argument that the electoral system violates the Charter is that Canadian citizens are free to vote for anyone they choose, and for any reason they choose, Huscroft added. "There is no constitutional requirement that their individual choices aggregate in a way that achieves some ideal of representational diversity," he wrote. "Neither the political party affiliation nor the personal characteristics of the candidates who win election are relevant to the constitutionality of the electoral system." During the 2015 election campaign, then Liberal leader Justin Trudeau promised it would be the last federal election held under the first-past-the-post system.
CBC
20 minutes ago
- CBC
Airline required to compensate families of Flight PS752 victims, Ontario court rules
Ontario's highest court has upheld a ruling that found Ukraine International Airlines legally responsible to pay full compensation to families of victims who died in the downing of Flight PS752. On Jan. 8, 2020, the plane was shot down by two Iranian missiles just minutes after taking off from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. Most of the passengers were bound for Canada, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents, while many others had connections to Canada. Last year, an Ontario court found that Ukraine International Airlines was negligent because it failed to conduct a proper risk assessment for the flight out of Tehran. The court found that decision meant the airline could not limit the amount of compensation it provided to families. The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed the airline's appeal in a decision released Monday. Joe Fiorante, a lawyer representing some of the families in the case, called the ruling "an important result" for those who lost loved ones in the incident.
