Vic Toews appointed judge

[grumpydigger]

Vic Toews appointed judge in Manitoba - Politics - CBC News Former federal public safety minister Vic Toews has been appointed a judge on the Court of Queen's Bench in Manitoba.
Toews retired from federal politics last year and it has long been known he wanted to be a judge in his home province of Manitoba, where he was a crown attorney before making the jump to provincial politics and serving as attorney general.
The only surprise with this appointment is that it came before Toews had a full year to cool off from his former jobs as the federal minister of public safety and justice.
Toews retired from his federal seat last summer, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.
While not unexpected, the appointment will be controversial.
Toews was the face of the Conservative government's tough on crime agenda, which didn't sit well with many in the country's legal community.
'Old boys' club'

NDP MP Charlie Angus called the appointment questionable and an example of the "old boys' club" in action.
Liberal MP Wayne Easter said the appointment is more of the same from the Conservative government.
"This is just a political patronage, pure and simple, to one of their own rather than trying to find one of the best legal minds in the country," Easter told CBC News.
Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay made the appointment that puts his former cabinet colleague onto the bench.
Alan Fineblit, who is chief executive officer of the Manitoba Law Society and worked directly with Toews when he was Manitoba's attorney general, said Toews is well-versed in constitutional law, fair and a good listener.
But he concedes the appointment is controversial.
"Toews was a polarizing individual, people had strong views about him and he himself had strong views, and that sometimes put him in conflict with the judiciary and with the legal profession," Fineblit said.
Toews has landed in hot water a few times over the years.
He was once fined for over-spending on one of his provincial election campaigns.
And in 2012 he told opposition MPs that if they didn't support his controversial online surveillance bill, they would be supporting child pornographers.

I guess since Harper cannot give his flunkies senate appointments anymore. He rigged it so they can become judges. I bet you the perks are just about as good and nobody's watching it .LOL

 

[Liberalman]

I guess Vic is going to be the hanging judge

 

[BornRuff]

Well, they should have lots of fun picking apart all of his biased opinions in appeals court.

 

[lone wolf]

I wouldn't want that opinionated SOB judging APPLES....


...though he's guaranteed to keep the legal profession in jobs

 

[L Gilbert]

Vic Toews appointed judge in Manitoba - Politics - CBC News Former federal public safety minister Vic Toews has been appointed a judge on the Court of Queen's Bench in Manitoba.
Toews retired from federal politics last year and it has long been known he wanted to be a judge in his home province of Manitoba, where he was a crown attorney before making the jump to provincial politics and serving as attorney general.

Like he could make sensible decisions. Geeeez.

I bet you the perks are just about as good and nobody's watching it .LOL

I wouldn't doubt it.
I really dislike political appointments. Freakin recipe for cronyism.

 

[damngrumpy]

I for one am not a conservative but I think if he meets the qualifications why not make him
a judge if there are openings? There is a shortage of judges and we're going to whine about
his politics? If you were to demand an answer from other judges you would find they all have
a political opinion. This fuss is nonsense

 

[L Gilbert]

So you think he's qualified to make reasonable decisions, I take it, Grumpy. i don't. You do know that judges have to make decisions, right?

 

[BornRuff]

I for one am not a conservative but I think if he meets the qualifications why not make him
a judge if there are openings? There is a shortage of judges and we're going to whine about
his politics? If you were to demand an answer from other judges you would find they all have
a political opinion. This fuss is nonsense

Shortages in judges have nothing to do with a lack of qualified people. It is simply the federal government dragging its heels in creating the needed positions and actually appointing people to the jobs.

Sure, everyone has political opinions, but that is different than spending the last 20 years working full time for a particular political party. Furthermore, the judiciary is supposed to act as a check on the legislative branch of government. Going from being so involved in crafting laws to interpreting and applying them so quickly can really seem like a conflict.

When it comes down to it though, the most obvious problem is one brought up in the OP. This reeks of patronage. There are lots of well qualified lawyers who might have deserved a shot at this job, but it seems that McKay just gave it to his buddy.

 

[Locutus]

Vic Vic he's the man,
If he can't judge you, no one can

 

[DaSleeper]

OMG......The Conservatives have invented "patronage"......what is politics coming to......

 

[Goober]

Just another example of why the appointment process needs to see the light of day. Judges appointed can and do have no experience in many tapes of law, from criminal to civil.
They then have the final say on your innocence.

 

[tay]

In 2004, Conservative justice critic Vic Toews criticized then Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler for appointing his former chief of staff, Yves de Montigny, to the federal court.


Toews acknowledged that de Montigny was qualified, reporter Janice Tibbetts wrote, but said it looked bad all the same.


“It’s just one more illustration of how who you know gets you on the bench,” Toews said.


In opposition, Toews complained bitterly about a federal judicial appointments process that was obviously rigged to put Liberals on the bench.


In 2005 a Canwest News Service analysis found that more than 60 per cent of federal judicial appointees had donated to the party in the five years before their appointment.


Toews wanted the system changed, so that the government would appoint judges from a short list chosen by an independent advisory panel. When he became Stephen Harper’s first justice minister in 2006, though, he had a change of heart, describing the process as a “relatively well-working mechanism.”


He tweaked it slightly, adding representatives of law enforcement to the advisory panels that review lists of potential judges, in keeping with a government that often emphasizes the order part of law and order.


Before long, the Tories were being accused, rightly, of appointing their own to the bench, just as the Liberals did before them. The Conservatives influence the advisory committees by naming some members. The Manitoba committee includes three members who are said to be close to Toews, including former provincial Tory strategist Marni Larkin, who the Tories also put on the CBC board.


Back in 2008, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that Toews had tired of federal politics and was looking to get appointed to the bench in Manitoba.


Columnist Don Martin wrote then:


“The mind reels. If the Conservatives under Harper stood for anything while in Official Opposition with Toews as the justice critic, it was a clean bench kept clear of patronage deadwood.”




The blowback seemed to spook the government, and Toews stayed in cabinet, moving first to treasury board and then to public safety.


He was rumoured to be seeking a way out, though, because he was weary of politics, particularly the tricky business of supervising the RCMP. But a second marriage, a young child and an expensive divorce meant that he needed a big paycheque.


I was told that the prime minister had quietly told him he could go to the bench, but there would have to be a six-month cooling off period.


Toews pooh-poohed that kind of talk, chiding journalists for their unseemly speculation.


But then he retired in the summer, and sure enough, nine months later, on Friday afternoon, the government appointed Toews to the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench.


He will make $288,100 a year, $51,000 more than the $236,900 he made as a cabinet minister, plus his MP pension, which ought to make those enormous alimony payments easier.


As Martin wrote in 2008:


“It’s difficult to fathom why the Conservatives would risk so much political karma on such a move.”
It looks terrible. The bench should not be used as a retirement home for burnt out politicians. That’s what the Senate is for, and certain consular offices.




It’s not to say that Toews isn’t qualified to sit on the bench. As a former Crown prosecutor and a provincial and federal attorney general he has been wrestling with difficult legal issues for many years, and appears to be intelligent, although he often seemed to enjoy playing dumb in front of the cameras.


Still, that’s not why they appointed him. They appointed him because of his political connections, perhaps because promising him the appointment was the best way to get rid of him, or because they like him and want him to be happy.


The Toews appointment — less than a year from cabinet table to the bench — seems to set a new standard for blatant patronage, which shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who has watched Harper appoint senators.


Personally, I agree with Vic Toews circa 2004. We would be better off having independent panels draw up short lists, taking the politics out of the system, not because unqualified people get appointed under the current system, but because we want the best on the bench, and when you throw partisan politics into the mix, you don’t get the best, you get the best-connected.


But there is little reason to fear that Toews will be as much of a knucklehead as a judge as he sometimes seemed as a politician.
Years ago, when I was writing columns criticizing then-justice minister Anne McLellan for appointing her old schoolmate — Heather Robertson — to the bench in Nova Scotia, I got a call from another judge who had taken Robertson under his wing.


You’re getting it wrong, he told me. She’s a great judge. I’m a Tory. She’s a Liberal. We’re all appointed for political reasons, but when we put on the robes, we set that aside.
We really do.


I’m pretty sure that’s true.




Vic Toews appointment seems to set new standard for blatant patronage | canada.com

 

[tay]

Toews now a possible candidate for Supreme Court






Mr. Toews, 61, who retired from the government last July, is known for tough-on-crime legislation and his criticism of activist judges. Ten years ago, in a speech called “Abuse of the Charter by the Supreme Court” at an anti-abortion conference in Winnipeg, he praised the work of the conservative U.S. scholar Robert Bork, who said judges were imposing a set of values upon the American people.




“I submit that it’s no different in Canada,” Mr. Toews said.




“Toews’ name is likely to be on the list” of candidates for the Supreme Court, said Peter Russell, a political scientist who has written books about the court.


Both pointed to changes the Conservative government made to the rules for screening judges that removed the category “highly qualified” and left a screening committee to set a low bar – dividing applicants into the qualified and the unqualified.


more

Toews now a possible candidate for Supreme Court - The Globe and Mail

 

[grumpydigger]

This is proof that the arrogant pompous self-righteous Harper flunkies will rise to the top and will be put in the position of judging us all.

Instead of trying to get tough on crime Harper should try to get tough on cronyism.

 

[Spade]

Why does Vic Toewes- judge remind me of the Mad Hatter - guest for tea?

If you are not with Vic, you are with the victims.

 

[L Gilbert]

Anonymous: Vic Toews Targeted Again In Operation VicTory After Liberal Staffer Behind Vikileaks' Ouster (VIDEO)

http://postmediaprovince.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/murphy_omnibus_bill.jpg

ooooo He looks mad!

 

[Nuggler]

Vic is a prick