By Keith Leslie
TORONTO (CP) - Ontario may need a "Christmas tree placement policy" for the 165 courthouses in the province after a Toronto judge ordered a small tree removed from the lobby of a courthouse, Attorney General Michael Bryant said Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Bryant visited the courthouse where Justice Marion Cohen had ordered the Christmas tree moved to an out-of-the-way corridor for fear it would offend non-Christians, and said he talked with Chief Justice Brian Lennox about developing a policy to deal with the situation.
"We agreed that once the season is finished we will sit down in January to have this discussion ... to see if we need to have some standard policy," Bryant said.
"We will continue to monitor the progress of this particular Christmas tree."
Bryant said he was told the tree at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto was moved back to the lobby overnight, but then moved again back to its more secluded location.
"The tree apparently in the dead of night was moved. No fingerprints have been located to date," Bryant joked.
"We don't see the need to bring a habeas corpus application to free the tree yet. Amnesty International has not called to date, but we'll continue to monitor the progress of this incredibly popular, interesting and mobile Christmas tree."
Opposition Leader John Tory didn't find Bryant's comments amusing, especially in light of Tory's failed attempts to get the attorney general to provide court statistics on the number of people on bail who reoffend.
"Here's a man who could muzzle your puppy in the drop of a hat, and can go around and make a personal visitation to a Christmas tree ... and yet he has no plan to look at how many bail violations there are or deal with some of the matters that are raised about sex offenders on the streets," Tory said. "Unbelievable."
But Bryant was unfazed by Tory's comments, and made it clear he wasn't taking the Christmas tree scandal very seriously.
"The Crown is retaining rights to any movie that might be made on the tree," Bryant quipped.
The attorney general also said there would be no disciplinary action taken against Cohen, despite the public outcry over the removal of the Christmas tree from the courthouse lobby.
Cohen came under fire from everyone from the Muslim Canadian Congress to the Canadian Jewish Congress to Premier Dalton McGuinty, who all said political correctness should not threaten such basic traditions as a Christmas tree.
McGuinty noted the Ontario legislature had recently celebrated the Hindu holiday of Diwali, the Islamic holiday Eid, and is currently marking Hanukkah in addition to being decorated for Christmas with several trees throughout the building.
Copyright © 2006 Canadian Press
TORONTO (CP) - Ontario may need a "Christmas tree placement policy" for the 165 courthouses in the province after a Toronto judge ordered a small tree removed from the lobby of a courthouse, Attorney General Michael Bryant said Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Bryant visited the courthouse where Justice Marion Cohen had ordered the Christmas tree moved to an out-of-the-way corridor for fear it would offend non-Christians, and said he talked with Chief Justice Brian Lennox about developing a policy to deal with the situation.
"We agreed that once the season is finished we will sit down in January to have this discussion ... to see if we need to have some standard policy," Bryant said.
"We will continue to monitor the progress of this particular Christmas tree."
Bryant said he was told the tree at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto was moved back to the lobby overnight, but then moved again back to its more secluded location.
"The tree apparently in the dead of night was moved. No fingerprints have been located to date," Bryant joked.
"We don't see the need to bring a habeas corpus application to free the tree yet. Amnesty International has not called to date, but we'll continue to monitor the progress of this incredibly popular, interesting and mobile Christmas tree."
Opposition Leader John Tory didn't find Bryant's comments amusing, especially in light of Tory's failed attempts to get the attorney general to provide court statistics on the number of people on bail who reoffend.
"Here's a man who could muzzle your puppy in the drop of a hat, and can go around and make a personal visitation to a Christmas tree ... and yet he has no plan to look at how many bail violations there are or deal with some of the matters that are raised about sex offenders on the streets," Tory said. "Unbelievable."
But Bryant was unfazed by Tory's comments, and made it clear he wasn't taking the Christmas tree scandal very seriously.
"The Crown is retaining rights to any movie that might be made on the tree," Bryant quipped.
The attorney general also said there would be no disciplinary action taken against Cohen, despite the public outcry over the removal of the Christmas tree from the courthouse lobby.
Cohen came under fire from everyone from the Muslim Canadian Congress to the Canadian Jewish Congress to Premier Dalton McGuinty, who all said political correctness should not threaten such basic traditions as a Christmas tree.
McGuinty noted the Ontario legislature had recently celebrated the Hindu holiday of Diwali, the Islamic holiday Eid, and is currently marking Hanukkah in addition to being decorated for Christmas with several trees throughout the building.
Copyright © 2006 Canadian Press