Across the Commonwealth, Remembrance Day controversies tend to be rote affairs: some bureaucrat or politician says something dumb about poppies, or some group gets behind “peace poppies,” or some TV personality — let’s call him Don — says something indelicate about how many and which Canadians he sees wearing poppies, or some drunken yob is caught on camera using a cenotaph as a toilet .

Nova Scotia’s justice system came up with an interesting one this year, however: It turns out judges can order and have ordered that staff in their courtrooms not wear poppies . Premier Tim Houston blew a gasket. Deborah Smith, chief justice of Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court, and Perry Borden, chief justice of the Provincial Court, stood behind judges’ discretion in such matters.

“The decision of

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