Posted by Bill Kennedy on 08/12/2011 - 08:10
With the possible exception of the hockey rink, Canadians have an international reputation for being nice in all arenas. Why is that? What is it about Canadians that merits this distinction? Is it the cold winters that force them to find mutual support? Is it the isolation making them depend on each other? Is it overcompensation for being treated as second-class Americans? Maybe the following case, from Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper, will shed some light on this perplexing conundrum.
Joe Groia is a Bay Street lawyer, a powerful professional at the height of his career. Bay Street is the nexus of financial power in not just Toronto, but all of Canada, and here was Joe, silent, his voice quavering when he spoke, and his eyes reddened with tears.
Per the Globe, "The stakes for Mr. Groia, 56, are high. His reputation, and his ability to practise law, are on the line. He faces anything from a reprimand to the revocation of his licence if a three-member Law Society panel finds he violated the profession's rules."
What was the heinous crime Mr. Groia stands accused of? What terrible lapse of professional judgement made him put his professional career on the line? What grievous error has brought down a man who formerly safeguarded the public as a special counsel and later director of enforcement for the Ontario Securities Commission?
Mr. Groia stands accused of "incivility."
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