A corporate lawyer should be interested in the recent decision Procureure générale du Québec c. Maheux, where the Court of Appeal was looking into the question of constitutioinality of the provision of the Election Act. The respondent, charged with making an illegal political contribution in the Court of Quebec, attacked the constitutional validity of the law in the Superior Court. The judge of Superior Court (supported by the Court of Appeal) decided that the question brought before him is broader than the one before the Court of Quebec and that public interest justified the hearing.
A corporate lawyer should consider that the possible penalties include the loss of the right to vote and of the right to run for office, guaranteed under s. 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the judges saw it better to allow the full debate before compelling the respondent to risk conviction.
