Even Supreme Court judges cannot resist the temptation to crack a few egg and chicken jokes, given the opportunity.
A day of constitutional arguments by lawyers before nine robed Supreme Court judges normally is a humorless affair.
Last week, though, the issue was the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency and whether its attempt to control egg exports from the Northwest Territories is constitutional.
The day was sprinkled with judicial humor, usually of the “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” and the “let’s get cracking” variety.
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One judge wondered if the industry was “walking on eggshells” over the challenge.
Another talked about “egging on the producers.”
At one point, CEMA lawyer David Wilson was offering a summary. “If I could put it in a nutshell …,” he started to say.
“Better than an eggshell,” cracked one of the judges, to guffaws all around.
Finally, lawyer James McConnell, representing the government of the Northwest Territories, felt compelled to remind the judges that the issue is a serious one for the people of the North.
“There is something about this case that makes us want to joke about eggs, but this is a serious matter,” he said before launching into an argument about northern attempts to diversify the economy.
