Supreme Court of Canada -- Social-welfare benefits not a right

Globe and Mail (Toronto) ^ | December 19, 2002 | Kirk Makin

[Clive]

Unusual for this court.

See also:
Supreme Court of Canada -- Common law does not equal married

[MindBender26]

"Young social assistance recipients in the 1980s certainly did not latch onto social assistance out of laziness," he wrote. "They were stuck receiving welfare because there were no jobs available."

BS. Had Mr. Justice LeBel taken time from reading his learned law reviews to read the want-ads in the same Globe-Mail that printed this article, he might have seen the absurdity of his position.

[Loyalist]

The Supreme Court gets it right twice in a day, just like a stopped clock.

[FreeTally]

Wow! Maybe we could get our Supreme Court to rule the same.

[dakine]

Basic Frickin' Common Sense!!...P.C. will be the death of our nations...

[dfwgator]

There is hope for Canada after all.

[ffusco]

wow, I can stop refering to canadians as those morons.

[Mr. Lucky]

SACRE BLEU!

[freedumb2003]

"wow, I can stop refering to canadians as those morons. "

Yeah -- I kept looking and looking for the zinger or something to tell me this is, indeed, Canada.

You gotta love that advocate -- People aren't working because there are no jobs.

1) If you keep increasing taxation to give handouts to the jobless, companies flee or can't expand and then there are fewer jobs, which makes more people who need handouts and the cycle just spins until everyone is jobless and the government collapses (see Venezuela).

2) If the government DOES want to help, give them a temporary government job (we should do this, too) like the CCC during the depression. Don't subsidize their doing nothing.

The sad part is that those advocates will continue to pound away, keeping the people they "represent" in poverty by ensuring they don't get up any higher than government subsistence.

[albertabound]

This is not the end...this is not the begining of the end..but...it is the end of the begining

[Bonaparte]

"There is hope for Canada after all."

Isn't it amazing what happens when the Golden Goose is on its death bed?

[afuturegovernor]

I though being on welfare in Cananda would have been a right. I bet the left-wingers are angry about this one. Some in American think it should be too.

[Chemist_Geek]

Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday that a Charter of Rights guarantee to equal treatment does not encompass a distinct right to social-welfare benefits.

At this point, I could be knocked over by a blow with a feather...

[headsonpikes]

"Unusual for this court."

UNUSUAL?!?!?

Frankly, I'm stunned; who would have believed?!?

[Imal]

Supreme Court of Canada -- Social-welfare benefits not a right

I'm surprised the court didn't cite Heinlein vs Lazy Bums in their decision. Looks like they arrived at the same conclusion independently. Go figure.

TANSTAAFL

[Republicus2001]

in Marina del Rey, California I think a cup of coffee is $170. OTH free money is free money. Why not give the poor $100,000 then everyone will be equal and happy as clams

[ancient_geezer]

Wow! Maybe we could get our Supreme Court to rule the same.

They have.

What Social Security Trust Fund

"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Fleming v. Nestor (1960), 363 US 603; that there is no Constitutional right to Social Security benefits. Social Security benefits can legally be cut or eliminated et any time, and beneficiaries have no recourse. The Court held that, "To engraft upon the Social Security System a concept of 'accrued property rights' would deprive it of the flexibility and boldness in adjustments to ever changing conditions which it demands."

[Bonaparte]

Yep. It's like a "best effort" contract. You get to pay for services that may or may not be delivered, whether you want them or not. Bad idea. The courts have made similar decisions concerning things like police protection. If the police don't feel like protecting you, they can legally fail to deliver the service. But you still have to pay for it and in most jurisdictions, you can't walk around armed. Very, very bad plan.