Canadian bankruptcy law is out of date

Change has been too long in coming

by Jacob Ziegel

This commentary was first published in the Financial Post on March 10, 2009.

Every modern society needs a balanced, well-functioning insolvency law to take care of the inevitable casualties of a free-market economy. This is true even when the economy is buoyant. It becomes imperative when the economy is in recession with bankruptcies mounting.

In a commentary in the National Post, Professors Lorraine Weinrib and Lorne Sossin argue that the Governor-General's decision-making should be public and transparent in situations such as the recent request by the Prime Minister to prorogue Parliament ("Canada's constitutional 'black box'," December 11, 2008).

Read the full commentary.

CBC's World at Six radio program interviewed Prof. Ariel Katz on January 6, 2009 in response to CUPE union leader Sid Ryan's call for a boycott of Israeli academics because of Israel's invasion of the Gaza strip.

Listen to the story on World at Six (mp3). The story begins at the 7:09 mark and Prof. Katz's comments begin at the 8:29 mark.

With the Governor General's 'time-out' proroguing of Parliament in its second month, the Faculty of Law's David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights brought scholars together  to share additional insights in advance of the highly anticipated budget vote scheduled for the end of January. The panel discussion was a continuation of the December 5 event that included Liberal MP Bob Rae and law professors Lorne Sossin and Lorraine Weinrib.