Adam Vaughan's `special' jury duty pass

[Locutus]

Because, you know, he's Adam Vaughan. And he deserves recognition for the work he does there at City Hall.



Toronto councillors delivered their verdict on jury duty Wednesday - they don’t want to do it.

Councillors voted 23 to 11 in favour of asking the province to exempt them from jury duty during their time in office.

Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday condemned Councillor Adam Vaughan for suggesting the idea.

“I don’t think it is necessary for us to have any special treatment,” Holyday told his council colleagues. “I think they might have it for MPs or MPPs, whether it is necessary for them or not, I have no idea.”

Holyday said when he’s been called for jury duty in the past he found the courts were accommodating to the demands of his job.

“I don’t see any reason why we should get preferential treatment at all and I think you’ll find they are quite agreeable to help you around important matters like council meetings and we can go through it just like an ordinary citizen would,” he said.

Vaughan argued councillors are performing a role that is part of the court system and the legal process, something that should make them ineligible to serve as jurors.

“I think strike 44 people from that list while they are in office is a small gesture, a recognition of the work we do here,” he said.


Adam Vaughan's `special' jury duty pass | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun

 

[Liberalman]

Adam Vaughan should be kicked out of City Hall for being unCanadian

 

[mentalfloss]

Vaughan has a really good head on his shoulders and this is a piece from the Toronto Sun, so I'm a bit skeptical that this is the entire story.

 

[TenPenny]

There is a certain logic to the idea that, as councillors, they are part of the system that implements laws (as far as bylaws go), and so there might be a case to be made.

However, to suggest that the work of being a councillor is so important that it can't be interrupted by jury duty is laughable, if not insulting to people who actually work.

 

[Locutus]

Poor Adam. :lol:


Councillors better show for jury duty: Attorney general



TORONTO - Toronto councillors who want out of jury duty are out of order, the Ontario government says.

Elaine Flis, a spokesman for Attorney General John Gerretsen, said the province is always reviewing this issue.

“But we have no plans to amend the Juries Act to exempt city councillors from jury duty,” she said Thursday. “However, if a city councillor or any other potential juror is concerned that serving on a jury will cause undue hardship, there are avenues available to such individuals to make applications for individual exemptions.”

Toronto councillors voted 23 to 11 Wednesday to ask the province to exclude them while they are in office from the citizen’s chore.

Councillor Adam Vaughan said that municipal politicians are part of the legal process and should be ineligible to serve as jurors.

“I think strike 44 people from that list while they are in office is a small gesture, a recognition of the work we do here,” Vaughan said.

Federal and provincial politicians and members of the senate are given a pass on jury duty as are a number of other professions.
Lawyers and law students, doctors and vets, judges and justices of the peace are all excluded from jury duty.

The no-jury duty list also extends to police officers, firefighters, jail guards, wardens and sheriffs.

Regular folks who want to skip jury duty — for reasons such as work, business, schooling or personal circumstances — must make a case for a break.


Councillors better show for jury duty: Attorney general | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun