Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is changing how we select candidates for Canada’s supreme court. The Toronto Star gave the official announcement sufficient column space to explain the idea and then devoted much more space on the editorial page to extolling what might be the virtues of this ‘Better Way.” Frankly, the editorial would have been better if it was suggesting motorists make more use of the Toronto Transit Commission.
Only the Toronto Star would compliment a cop-out. And that is what it is. Once again, Trudeau is opting for an elitist solution to an undemocratic anachronism. It is just one more example of the appointment powers of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that he wants to look like he is sharing.
And maybe former Prime Minister Kim Campbell from Vancouver needed a job. She gets to chair a committee of legal experts and elites who will consider applications from Canadians for appointment to the supreme court.
Though it is hard to imagine the indignity involved in a top legal mind in one of our superior courts sitting down and writing an application and attaching his or her curriculum vitae for the first time in maybe 20 years. That will take some serious encouragement from colleagues and friends.
At least someone has listened to Canadians’ complaints about our antiquated appointment system and it is planned that we will have members of the committee with a clear understanding of the job. This will include four people representing respectively Canada’s law societies, judges, barristers and senior law-school academics. That might help.
Of the three remaining members of this elite group, two are specified as not being lawyers. We wonder if their role is to vet the hygiene and political acceptability of the applicants?
But it is all supposed to let the Prime Minister off the hook for the choice. This is despite the Prime Minister still making the ultimate appointment.
What we do agree with in this silly, convoluted proposal is that members of parliament will be able to “directly engage with the nominee.” There will be some concern that we are becoming too American by allowing some minor level of ‘Advise and Consent’ but at least our elected people will have a chance to have at the nominees. Frankly, the tougher the grilling, the better.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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