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   Worse record than the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Who to fire . . . who to fire . .   
   . ?   
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   news.nationalpost.com/| April 14, 2015   
      
   A scorecard of the Harper government’s wins and losses at the Supreme Court   
   of   
   Canada   
      
      
   In one of starkest examples in Canadian history of two branches of government   
   openly turning against one another, the red robed members Supreme Court of   
   Canada have spent months systematically shooting down virtually every issue the   
   Conservatives hold dear. Court boosters say the Tories simply have a fondness   
   for unconstitutional legislation.   Harperites, meanwhile, allege that they are   
   the target of a weird vendetta from their down-the-street neighbour. The   
   National Post takes a look at the highlights.   
      
      
   TIMELINE:  	December 2013   
   LOSS: Prostitution   
      
   RULING: Unanimous | Canada’s Prostitution laws were written long before   
   Ottawa’s streets were paved, but just before Christmas, 2013, the Court found   
   them unconstitutional and ordered the Harper Government to draw up new ones. A   
   few months later, the Tories’ answer was a dense package of laws that   
   effectively kept prostitution illegal anyway.   
      
      
   March 2014   
   LOSS: SCC nominee Marc Nadon   
      
   RULING: 6-1 The ugliest Supreme Court-PMO spat yet was fought over Marc Nadon,   
   the bowtied federal court judge Harper wanted to take Quebec’s seat on the   
   court. Nadon wasn’t technically eligible, so the Tories added a few lines to   
   an   
   omnibus budget bill that made him eligible. The Court didn’t buy   
   it—leading to   
   accusations from the PMO that since Day One, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin   
   had been running a clandestine campaign to keep Nadon off her bench.   
      
      
   April 2014   
   LOSS: Time-served sentencing   
      
   RULING: Unanimous | The Tories’ 2009 Truth in Sentencing Act collared the   
   ability of judges to give offenders sentencing discounts by multiplying the   
   days spent in pre-trial custody. One day in a pre-trial detention centre, for   
   instance, could equal as much as three days served of a sentence. The Supreme   
   Court overturned the Tories’ mandatory 1-1 policy, arguing that it violated   
   the   
   â€œsentencing principles of parity and proportionality.â€�   
      
      
   April 2014   
   LOSS: Senate reform   
      
   RULING: Unanimous | For reasons that are becoming increasingly clear, the   
   Tories had their sights set on corralling some of the awesome power of the   
   Upper Chamber through measures such as indirect elections or term limits for   
   senators. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that the Prime Minister couldn’t   
   do   
   anything to the Senate without provincial assent. The dreamed-of goal to   
   destroy the Senate altogether, meanwhile, would require a near-impossible vote   
   of unanimity from the provinces.Canadians were “essentially stuckâ€� with the   
   Senate thanks to the Supreme Court, said Harper.   
      
      
   LOSS:   Mandatory minimums for gun crimes   
   April, 2015.   
   RULING: 6-3   
   Commit a crime with a prohibited gun, said the 2008 Tackling Violent Crime Act,   
   and you’d get an automatic three years in jail. On Tuesday, the Court struck   
   down the measure, calling it “cruel and unusualâ€� punishment.   
      
      
   Destruction of gun registry data – WIN   
   March, 2015   
   RULING: 5-4   
   As the Tories shredded the records of the abolished long gun registry, Quebec   
   sued to keep their own gun records on file. The Supreme Court denied the   
   request, in what was deemed a rare moment of accord between the PMO and the   
   SCOC.   
      
      
   Assisted suicide – LOSS   
   February, 2015   
   RULING: Unanimous   
   A case brought by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association garnered the somewhat   
   counter-intuitive ruling that Canada’s laws against assisted death violated   
   Canadians’ rights to “life, liberty and security.â€� As they’ve done   
   before on   
   other issues, the court issued Harper with homework to draw up some assisted   
   dying laws in the next 12 months.   
      
      
   Aboriginal title – LOSS   
   June, 2014   
   RULING: Unanimous   
   B.C.’s Tsilhqot’in First Nation essentially sued for official recognition   
   of   
   their Aboriginal title to a large swath of B.C., and got it. The Harper   
   government didn’t have a dog in this fight (it was a B.C. government case).   
   However, the decision complicates any plans to build large federal   
   infrastructure projects (say, a pipeline) in the vast unceded sectors of B.C.   
      
      
   Terrorism-related security certificates – WIN   
   May, 2014.   
   RULING: Unanimous   
   Since 2002, the federal government has been trying to deport Mohamed Harkat, a   
   pizza delivery man accused of being an al-Qaeda sleeper agent. The deportation   
   order was based on a security certificate, a rarely-used tool of immigration   
   law used to eject foreign nationals suspected of threatening security. The   
   Supreme Court rejected Harkat’s constitutional challenge of the certificate   
   program, and the Tories hailed the decision as a victory.   
      
      
   Time-served sentencing – LOSS   
   April, 2014   
   RULING: Unanimous   
   The Tories’ 2009 Truth in Sentencing Act collared the ability of judges to   
   give   
   offenders sentencing discounts by multiplying the days spent in pre-trial   
   custody. One day in a pre-trial detention centre, for instance, could equal as   
   much as three days served of a sentence. The Supreme Court overturned the   
   Tories’ mandatory 1-1 policy, arguing that it violated the “sentencing   
   principles of parity and proportionality.â€�   
      
      
   Senate reform – LOSS   
   April, 2014   
   RULING: Unanimous   
   For reasons that are becoming increasingly clear, the Tories had their sights   
   set on corralling some of the awesome power of the Upper Chamber through   
   measures such as indirect elections or term limits for senators. Instead, the   
   Supreme Court ruled that the Prime Minister couldn’t do anything to the   
   Senate   
   without provincial assent. The dreamed-of goal to destroy the Senate   
   altogether, meanwhile, would require a near-impossible vote of unanimity from   
   the provinces.Canadians were “essentially stuckâ€� with the Senate thanks to   
   the   
   Supreme Court, said Harper.   
      
      
   Supreme Court nominee Marc Nadon – LOSS   
   March, 2014   
   RULING: 6-1   
   The ugliest Supreme Court-PMO spat yet was fought over Marc Nadon, the bowtied   
   federal court judge Harper wanted to take Quebec’s seat on the court. Nadon   
   wasn’t technically eligible, so the Tories added a few lines to an omnibus   
   budget bill that made him eligible. The Court didn’t buy it—leading to   
   accusations from the PMO that since Day One, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin   
   had been running a clandestine campaign to keep Nadon off her bench.   
      
      
   Prostitution – LOSS   
   December, 2013   
   RULING: Unanimous   
   Canada’s Prostitution laws were written long before Ottawa’s streets were   
   paved, but just before Christmas, 2013, the Court found them unconstitutional   
      
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