Harper's Judicial Tides

Lawyers Weekly makes an interesting observation - One third of federal judges now appointed by Harper government:

The Conservatives will have appointed one-third of the country’s federal judges by the time they celebrate their fourth anniversary in office this month.

...Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already had a major impact on the judiciary’s top echelons, despite leading a minority government. He has appointed two Supreme Court of Canada judges, as well as at least eight provincial chief, or associate chief, justices.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Canada's Chief Justice: Government, Courts Must Respect Civil Liberties in War on Terror

Canada.com reports on comments by the Supreme Court of Canada's Chief Justice, Beverley MacLachlin at an Ottawa event yesterday:

OTTAWA — Canada's most senior judge cautioned Tuesday against going overboard in the fight against terrorism by putting too much emphasis on the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. at the expense of sacrificing civil rights and charter protections.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin's warning that lawmakers, judges and citizens must heed the big picture comes as the federal government's war on terror is taking a beating in the nation's courts.

"The fear and anger that terrorism produces may cause leaders to make war on targets that may or may not be connected with the terrorist incident," McLachlin told the Ottawa Women's Canadian Club in a luncheon speech Tuesday.

"Or perhaps it may lead governments to curtail civil liberties and seek recourse in tactics they might otherwise deplore . . . that may not, in the clearer light of retrospect, be necessary or defensible."

...The challenge in putting civil liberties on equal footing is that terrorist acts themselves breed fear that "there is a terrorist around every corner" who must be caught at all costs, she said.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Montreal Gazette: SCC Bell Ruling a "Stinging Rebuke" to Quebec Court of Appeal

From a June 26 Gazette op-ed:

The rapidity with which the Supreme Court heard the Bell buyout case, and the unprecedented speed with which it overturned the Quebec Court of Appeal's ruling that would have derailed the deal, sends an unmistakeable message to the appeal bench to get its act together on commercial law.

The Supremes' unanimous 7-0 decision, with costs thrown in as well, is a stinging rebuke to the Quebec court... It's not the first time the Supremes have overturned the top Quebec court, but the magnitude of the Bell case, and the consequences of it, dramatize the message from on high. In fact, the Supreme Court has previously reversed seven out of nine commercial rulings from the Quebec court, including five out of five unanimous judgments, in the last five years.

...A unanimous judgment of the Quebec court was unanimously reversed within 72 hours of a hearing. You don't see that every day. The message to the Quebec court was a resounding rejection of its logic and interpretation of business law, with a slap upside the head - don't you guys understand the consequences of this?

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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