Rocco's ready to rumble!

"Ladies and Gentlemen our main event. In the blue corner weighing 157 3/4 pounds wearing the black trunks with white stripe former middleweight champion of the Marines ..... Rocco 'The Human Monkey Wrench' Gaaaaa .....laaaaa .....tiiiii .....!"

Later .....

"9 ... 10 ... you're out Harper you bum! Get out of here you don't know what you're doing!"

"..... and the winner by a knockout at 1:47 of the first round and still champion Rocco 'The Monkey Wrench" Gaaaaa ..... laaaa ..... Tiiiii .....!" 

Good Day Readers:

Typical Harper government. Rather than sitting down with constitutional experts opposed to amendments to Bill C-24 it will arrogantly push it ahead. Then when the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down the changes Messrs Harper, Alexander and MacKay will be all over Chief Justice McLachlin like a cheap shirt.

They really are crybabies.

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

Rocco Galati launches court fight against Citizen Act changes

Parliament does not have the power to strip Canadian-born terrorism convicts of their citizenship, Toronto lawyer argues in joint legal challenge

Tonda MacCharles
Ottawa Bureau Reporter
Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Toronto lawyer Rocco Galati, seen in this July 2012 file photo, has launched a legal challenge of the Conservative government's new Citizenship Act Changes. (Trevor Hagan/The Canadian Press)

OTTAWA—Lawyer Rocco Galati has made good on a threat to take the Conservative government to court over its Citizenship Act changes, formally filing documents Wednesday with Federal Court in Toronto.

Galati launched the legal challenge to invalidate a key provision of the Conservative government’s new law, which received royal assent last week.

Galati is seeking a declaration that Parliament does not have the constitutional power to strip a Canadian-born citizen convicted of terrorism or treason of his or her Canadian passport in cases where the individual is a dual citizen.

More at thestar.com:

Canada’s new Citizenship Act reeks of mistrust: Editorial

In defence of Ottawa’s citizenship shift: Chris Alexander

The provision has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight with the conviction and sentencing this week of Egyptian-Canadian dual citizen Mohamed Fahmy and two fellow Al-Jazeera journalists in Cairo on terror-related charges. Fahmy was sentenced to seven years in prison — a ruling that has triggered international outrage.

Galati wants the courts to invalidate the Governor General’s royal assent of Bill C-24, the so-called Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act. He wants the provision itself declared void, and the federal government to hand over its legal opinions on the constitutionality of the bill from before and after Galati first flagged his intent to challenge it.

Galati bases his challenge on the 1867 and 1982 Constitution Acts, which he says give the federal government power over “aliens and naturalization” but, he argues, confer no power to strip Canadian-born people of their citizenship. He traces his argument back to the Magna Carta, stating that citizenship is not a right the government can strip from those born on its soil.

Galati is joined by lawyer Manuel Azevedo and the Constitutional Rights Centre Inc. — which does pro bono constitutional litigation — in the challenge.

Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Alexander has shrugged off Galati in the Commons and at committee in the past two weeks as he pushed the bill through its final legislative stages. He said the government will not revoke the citizenship of a Canadian-born person convicted of terrorism as long as the individual renounces a dual nationality — even if the corresponding country refuses to recognize such renunciation.

Alexander also says the government would weigh whether a trial abroad that convicts a Canadian of terrorism or spying was fairly conducted. That assessment would look at whether the convicting country is democratic with an independent judiciary, due process and trial proceedings that respect human rights and the rule of law — an evaluation that would be made by the government, not public servants, which itself would be subject to judicial review, said Alexander.

Alexander said an individual targeted under the act would have the chance to make written submissions and given 30 days to apply for leave to appeal from the Federal Court, where he said the bar is “quite low” and judicial review is likely.

Galati’s is not a Charter challenge; he is not relying on guarantees of equality or the mobility rights that allow Canadian citizens to leave, enter and remain in the country. Instead he is arguing that under the Constitution Act, which sets out the division of powers for each level of government, Ottawa does not have the power to legislate away citizenship.

In response, Alexander’s press secretary, Alexis Pavlich, sent the Star talking points on the new law, saying: “Canadians gave us a strong mandate to protect and strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship.”

Galati is the first to take the new law to court, but the challenge comes on the heels of an announcement by the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association that they, too, will launch a legal fight against the law, on slightly different grounds.

In announcing his intention to sue, Lorne Waldman, president of the refugee lawyers’ group, said the law “would allow certain Canadians to be stripped of citizenship that was validly obtained by birth or by naturalization. We think that is unconstitutional.”

Josh Paterson, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said in a release at that time: “In Canada, lawfully obtained citizenship has always been permanent — once a Canadian, always a Canadian — and all Canadians have always had equal citizenship rights. This bill turns the whole idea of being Canadian upside-down, so that the Canadian citizenship of some people will be worth less than the Canadian citizenship of others. That is wrong.”