Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger
not matter how you car gets impounded to you have to pay fees for that with no recourse. How is getting charged the impounding too any different from when your car gets stolen and found and you still have to pay the impound fee.
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To be totally honest--it seems like you're having a little bit of difficulty understanding the issue here. I'm not trying to be mean--it's just that your responses aren't really on point in this discussion. That's understandable, by the way--I think that a lot of people don't know how the criminal law in Canada works, and that's not really their fault. It's a complicated subject that isn't taught in school. However, maybe it will help if I break down the issues a little bit.
1. The province is trying to enact criminal laws. They're not allowed to do this because it's beyond the scope of their constitutionally granted authority. If we start letting the province make laws with respect to things that are within federal jurisdiction we may as well fold up our tents and call it a day on this whole federalism experiment.
2. The province is trying to enforce criminal penalties without evidence of a crime. This is a violation of a basic principle of justice that dates back to the earliest days of the common law: the presumption of innocence. If we stop presuming that accused persons are innocent, we may as well fold up our tents and call it a day on this whole fair and just society experiment.
3. The province is trying to enforce criminal penalties without allowing a person to be heard in court first. See #2.
4. The province is enacting laws to address a made-up policy concern in response to a lobby that (though it started with an admirable goal) has completely lost touch with reality. If we start instituting draconian laws to respond to imaginary concerns, then.... see #2.
5. This law grants a police officer the discretion to impose a penalty on you without drafting a formal charge, collecting any evidence or being accountable in any way to any higher authority. This means that the police officer has the powers of a judge, in effect. This is a MAJOR problem, that the BC Court got around by saying that this is not an "offence," and thus that one's section 11 rights aren't triggered. (That's not a holding I can see standing up on review--how can something that carries a criminal penalty not be an offence) But if we start allowing police officers to circumvent the courts and impose penalties at their own discretion, then... see #2.
To respond to your point above, the impound fee is a levy that is prescribed for this particular offence. That makes it a fine. A rose by any other name....