Comments on: Approval Received in Ottawa!

By: Hal

Hal — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:04:53 +0000

Shekhinah, change the 50 to infinity and you will be closer to the answer. We have to worry about tomorrow with all the religious fanatics still present tomorrow.

By: Shekhinah

Shekhinah — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:09:41 +0000

Christian Ad goes up tomorrow.

There is only a .0001^50 chance that there is God. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

By: TheCRZA

TheCRZA — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:14:43 +0000

it’s been 5 days since the ads were approved here in Ottawa, and I still haven’t seen an ad yet. I was even waiting at a bus station (Baseline Station, for the locals) for over half an hour and didn’t see the ad at all. But what I did see was an unusually large amount of busses with empty ad spaces . . . hmmm . . .

Has anyone in Ottawa seen the ad yet?

By: Paul Simon

Paul Simon — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:59:37 +0000

Surely the money for these ads could be put to better use than a public shouting match that only strokes your own egos. This smacks of smugness and glee in taunting the religious, which atheists are unfortunately too well-known for. Religion is nothing more than superstition. Spending your time wrestling a pig will only lower you to its level, get you dirty, and besides the pig loves it. You validate it every time you wrestle it. Why not donate the money to Amnesty International or other humanitarian causes that are doing something real, rather than arguing over someone’s delusion?

By: SkepticaLynda

SkepticaLynda — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:43:59 +0000

Sorry, for the typo…”Tulip” Festival.

By: SkepticaLynda

SkepticaLynda — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:43:01 +0000

So when can we expect to see the ads on the buses? In time for the Tupil Festival? Great time to run the ads.

By: Raymond Chow

Raymond Chow — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:31:07 +0000

Bravo.

By: Islandman

Islandman — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:08:21 +0000

Michel:
I think your contribution is significant.
Thanks.

By: Michel

Michel — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:24:28 +0000

ISLANDMAN, THEY SHOULD INDEED TAKE NOTICE!

You asked a very pertinent question in posting no. 10, and as a person who has some legal training, my answer is that cities like Halifax, Vancouver and Victoria should indeed take notice, because the City of Ottawa received VERY clear advice from its Sollicitor, Rick O’Connor, to the effect that refusing our ads would be ruled a violation of our Charter rights.

This opinion is in the form of Memo dated March 10, 2009 to the Mayor and Members of (Ottawa City) Council from Rick O’Connor, the City Clerk and Sollicitor. I wish I had an electronic copy. Perhaps I can get one from the City. It is file no. L06-02 ADVE. Mr. O’Connor goes over the whole question of what is meant by “Offensive” and “Freedom of Expression” and summarizes pertinent court decisions. I will not try to summarize all six pages, but I will quote the conclusion: “Based on information available at this time, it appears the City may not be able to justify its refusal of the proposed advertising on the basis that it is offensive, and consequently, it may be found to be an unreasonable infringement of the Association’s freedom of expression under. . . .the Charter.
. . . . . Finally, in the absence of further evidence to support a finding that the ads would be offensive to a reasonable number of transit users, it will be difficult for the City to justify its rejection of the ads, and to sucessfully defend a legal challenge if one is received.”

I hope this memo by Ottawa’s City Clerk and Solicitor is brought to the attention of Vancouver, Victoria and Halifax city councils, if they have refused our ads. After all, we are talking about the same ads, in the same country, subject to the same Charter. I think you would by doing your municipal governments a favour by warning them that they could be sucessfully challenged in court for what they are doing. Perhaps they could request a copy of the O’Connor memo, from one Municipal Government to another.

By: Michel

Michel — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:01:44 +0000

The vote went like this:

The motion to accept the ads was approved by: Councillors Clive Doucet, Christine Leadman, Peter Hume, Diane Holmes, Jan Harder, Michel Bellemare, Peggy Feltmate, Steve Desroches, Jacques Legendre, Georges Bédard, Gord Hunter, Shad Qadri, and Alex Cullen.

Voting against the motion were Miranne Wilkinson, Bob Monette, Rainer Bloess, Eli El-Shantiry, Doug Thompson, Rob Jellett and Mayor Larry O’Brien.