Angry consumer wins out over bylaw...
By KIRK MAKIN
A furious Quebec consumer had the constitutional right to erect a sign denouncing an insurance company that he felt had done him wrong, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday. The court said that consumers not only have a right to express their dissatisfaction with products or services - including on Internet sites - but also to read what others have to say.
Consumers may express their frustration or disappointment with a product or service," Mr. Justice Louis LeBel wrote for a 9-0 majority. "This type of communication may be of considerable social importance — even beyond this merely commercial sphere."
The appellant, Roger Guignard, was charged under a City of Saint-Hyacinthe bylaw after he put up a sign complaining that his claim for damage to a building he owned had not been settled. The sign supplied the dates of his loss and his filing of a claim, adding: "Commerce Group - the incompetent insurance company has still not indemnified me."
In defence of its bylaw, lawyers for the municipality contended that their prohibition on advertising was intended to reduce visual pollution and distractions to drivers.
The court said municipalities are justified in taking efforts to avoid visual pollution, but they cannot do so by broadly impinging on the rights of consumers to speak their minds. As important as it is to reinforce the importance of local government, it added, fundamental freedoms take precedence when they are seriously threatened.
"This court attaches great weight to freedom of expression," Judge LeBel said. "Since the Charter came into force, it has on many occasions stressed the societal importance of freedom of expression and the special place it occupies in Canadian constitutional law."
It said the Sainte-Hyacinthe bylaw was so all-encompassing that it amounted to a severe violation of the Charter. "It forces him to use advertising methods that presuppose the availability of adequate financial resources," the court said. "Alternatively, it restricts him to private, or virtually private, communications - such as distributing leaflets in the neighbourhood around his property. ..."
POSTED AT 11:57 AM EDT Thursday, February 21, 2002
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