Ontario is not alone, it seems, in its overbearing regulation of conduct in private homes.

In BC, growing cucumbers in your basement can lead to major fines, even though it’s perfectly legal. Just ask Len Gratto, hit with a $5200 penalty for doing just that. And he’s not the only one to suffer clearly illegal searches and financial shakedowns in that province.

What we have here, quite simply, is officials of the state making innocent people pay the cost of having their rights violated. The Charter is clear on the violation itself: “8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.” But that’s not stopping the BC municipal governments from doing it, and then enriching itself themselves by extracting large sums of money from innocent citizens.

Great little system they have there. One wonders if the police will soon be able to charge innocent protesters rent for time spent in jail. Maybe the RCMP officer who kicked a man in the head recently could bill his victim for the cost of having his boots re-polished. Will Ian Bush’s parents be sent an invoice for the bullet that killed their son?

This cannot stand, and the BC Civil Liberties Association, thank goodness, is on the job.