Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Can Parliament Prosecute a Corrupt Government?

I don't have access to the particular cases cited below to determine how the Parliament of Canada used its jurisdiction to prosecute the offences. But if the the Liberal government has misappropriated the public revenue without first getting permission from the House of Commons/Parliament (s. 54 of the Constitution Act, 1867), does Parliament have the authority to 'prosecute' the current government?

This is the definition in Martin's Criminal Code of "Attorney General" :

"It is clear that Parliament may Constitutionally vest exclusive jurisdiction in the Attorney General of Canada to prosecute offences which do not depend for their validity on s. 91 (27) of the Constitution Act, 1867: R. v. Hauser, [1979] 1 S.C.R. 984, 46 C.C.C. (2d) 481, 8 C.R. (3d) 89 (5:2).

It would also seem that Parliament may vest prosecutorial authority in the federal Attorney General under this section even where the offence depends for its validity on the criminal law power in s. 91 (27): Canada (Attorney General) v. Canadian National Transportation, Ltd.; Canada (Attorney General) v. Canadian Pacific Transport Co. Ltd., [1983] 2 S.C.R. 206, 7 C.C.C. (3d) 449, 38 C.R. (3d) 97 (the court splitting 4:3 on the issue) with respect to the Combines Investigation Act, R.S.C 1970, c. C-23; and R. v. Wetmore, [1983] 2 S.C.R. 161, 7 C.C.C. (3d) 507, 38 C.R. (3d) 161 (6:1) with respect to the Food and Drugs Act, R.S.C. 1970, c F-27."

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I dont really know the answer to this question but we the people MUST. It is time to drag these scum out into the streets and remove them from our misery.

10/5/05 4:42 p.m.  

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