/BarTalk/Articles/2020/December/Features/Microplastics-and-Climate-Change
In October 2020, Environment and Climate Change Canada (“ECCC”) published its findings on the current state of science regarding plastic pollution in the report, “Science Assessment of Plastic Pollution.” The report provides that plastic pollution, including microplastics (de...
/BarTalk/Articles/2020/December/Columns/Only-Nixon-Could-Go-to-China
It still drives me bonkers that lawyers’ bills in BC are subject to 7% Provincial Sales Tax (on top of 5% GST), yet the accounts of most other service providers in BC are not; particularly accountants, consultants, and realtors. We all know the old trope sold to the legal pr...
/BarTalk/Articles/2020/October/Columns/The-Loss-of-Women-in-the-Legal-Profession
♫ Bangin’ your head all day long against the glass ceiling Lauralee made her mind up, she had enough She jumped the fence right there And then to go someplace she’s never been She waived the nine to five a big goodbye... ♫ — Music, lyrics by Bettis, Farren, We...
/BarTalk/Articles/2020/October/Columns/Freedumb-Fighters
Current projections indicate that by October 1, the COVID-19 pandemic will have killed almost 10,000 Canadians and 215,000 Americans. Despite health professionals in both countries advising that the use of facemasks in public places will help prevent the spread of the virus (...
/BarTalk/Articles/2020/August/Columns/Stake-Your-Claim
Given that I’m writing this column on Canada Day, today is as good a day as any to go back 50 years to an old Monty Python sketch called “Stake Your Claim” where 43-year-old Norman Voles (Michael Palin) claimed to have written all of Shakespeare’s plays. When told by the inte...
/BarTalk/Articles/2020/August/Columns/The-Power-of-a-National-Organization
CBABC is proud to be a vibrant, active Branch within the Canadian Bar Association. No matter which way you look at it, the Branch is strong and healthy, and members engage in the services, programs and benefits delivered in British Columbia. Our volunteers are second to none...
/BarTalk/Articles/2020/June/Columns/Liberty,-Tyranny-and-The-Madness-of-Clowns
There’s a hand-painted sign that got a fair bit of traction on the Internet in late April around the same time that flag waving anti-lockdown protesters dressed in the latest camo-attire from Walmart, and wielding AR 15’s, stormed the state legislature in Michigan (in what co...
/BarTalk/Articles/2020/April/Columns/A-Place-to-Grow-A-Place-to-Be
Some years ago, I ran into an old friend in Victoria who had deliberately moved into the neighbourhood I had grown up in off Henderson Road close to UVic, in what is sometimes called “North Oak Bay.” She had specifically moved there so that her kids could go to nearby “Upland...
/BarTalk/Articles/2020/February/Columns/I-Want-to-Name-a-Law-School-After-Me
My (very) late father was a real estate developer, and owned hotels and restaurants in Victoria in the 1960s and 1970s. One of his many regrets when he died was not having the name “Victor Wilson” prominently carved into the top of his various office buildings in huge letters...
/BarTalk/Articles/2019/December/Columns/Emotional-Contagion-and-the-2019-Election
Perhaps the best moment of the October federal election may have gone unnoticed if you weren’t watching CBC’s coverage, hosted by the excellent Rosemary Barton. In an election filled with rancour, missteps, lies, SNC, (and yes, blackface), panellist Megan Leslie, a former Hal...