LILLEY: Team Trudeau appointing family, friends and donors as judges ... again!
Brian Lilley
Published:
July 2, 2019
Updated:
July 2, 2019 6:14 PM EDT
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada July 1, 2019. Patrick Doyle / Reuters
Justice is supposed to be blind.
Regardless of who you are, rich or poor, well educated or not, we are all supposed to be treated equally when appearing before a judge.
Statues outside of courthouses often portray Lady Justice wearing a blindfold, symbolizing she judges without seeing who you are.
Well, what about the appointment of judges?
Turns out the Liberal Party of Canada looks very closely to make sure not only that judges are competent and qualified, but are also donors, neighbours or friends of the powerful.
Maybe even a relative.
LILLEY: Time’s up for Dean French
LILLEY: Dean French appointments were a bad example, nothing more
KINSELLA: Liberals jumping ship as S.S. Trudeau cruises towards proverbial iceberg
BONOKOSKI: Top Trudeau Liberals, including PM, strangers to ethics
Tuesday morning, CBC broke a story that 5 out of the last 6 judicial appointments in New Brunswick went to people with close, personal connections to one of Justin Trudeau’s most trusted cabinet ministers Dominic Leblanc.
Those appointments include a “neighbour, a LeBlanc family relation and three lawyers who helped retire debts from his unsuccessful 2008 leadership bid.”
Nice work if you can get it — a judicial appointment is not only a nicely paid gig, it’s pretty much a job for life.
You really have to screw up to get fired from that job.
Of course, those appointments came hot on the heels of some rather generous donations to the Liberal Party.
In the past, Justice Minister David Lametti denied making judicial appointments based on who donates to the Liberal Party, and his office has done so again in this case.
“All judicial appointments are made on the basis of merit,” Lametti’s spokeswoman Rachel Rappaport said in a statement.
Excuse me if I have trouble believing them.
In April it was reported by the Globe and Mail that judicial appointments were being screened by the prime minister’s office through a party database of donors before appointments were made.
Candidates were even designated as ‘supporters’ if they had donated and been involved with the party sufficiently.
In their investigation, the Globe looked through the 289 judicial appointments made by the Trudeau government and then matched them to Elections Canada donations records.
“Over all, 1,187 contributions were matched to 83 judges — nearly one in three of those appointed. Seventy-five judges, or 90.4% of all judges who made donations, gave to the Liberal Party or its candidates,” the Globe reported.
Compare that to just nine judges that donated to the Conservatives, eight to the NDP and one to the Greens.
Look, I get that parties in power get to appoint whoever they like for positions ranging from judges to boards and commissions, ambassadors and more.
But this isn’t what Justin Trudeau promised.
Trudeau promised not to do this — he pledged merit based appointments.
And what do we keep getting? Liberal Party donors or failed candidates.
“Our country is stronger, and our government more effective, when decision makers reflect Canada’s diversity,” the Liberals said in their 2015 election platform.
“We will also adopt a new government-wide appointment process that is open and based on merit.”
Apparently, diversity for the Liberals means 90% Liberal donors.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently lost his chief of staff over a series of bad patronage appointments.
French resigned in the middle of the controversy.
This is far worse than that.
We aren’t talking about a party hack getting a plum appointment where they can do no real harm, we are talking about judges.
We are talking about people who cast judgements on murder cases, assault charges, divorce and family law — and those jobs are going to party donors, friends, neighbours and family?
Canadians deserve better than this, and they deserve some real answers from Justin Trudeau.
http://torontosun.com/opinion/colum...ing-family-friends-and-donors-as-judges-again
Brian Lilley
Published:
July 2, 2019
Updated:
July 2, 2019 6:14 PM EDT
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada July 1, 2019. Patrick Doyle / Reuters
Justice is supposed to be blind.
Regardless of who you are, rich or poor, well educated or not, we are all supposed to be treated equally when appearing before a judge.
Statues outside of courthouses often portray Lady Justice wearing a blindfold, symbolizing she judges without seeing who you are.
Well, what about the appointment of judges?
Turns out the Liberal Party of Canada looks very closely to make sure not only that judges are competent and qualified, but are also donors, neighbours or friends of the powerful.
Maybe even a relative.
LILLEY: Time’s up for Dean French
LILLEY: Dean French appointments were a bad example, nothing more
KINSELLA: Liberals jumping ship as S.S. Trudeau cruises towards proverbial iceberg
BONOKOSKI: Top Trudeau Liberals, including PM, strangers to ethics
Tuesday morning, CBC broke a story that 5 out of the last 6 judicial appointments in New Brunswick went to people with close, personal connections to one of Justin Trudeau’s most trusted cabinet ministers Dominic Leblanc.
Those appointments include a “neighbour, a LeBlanc family relation and three lawyers who helped retire debts from his unsuccessful 2008 leadership bid.”
Nice work if you can get it — a judicial appointment is not only a nicely paid gig, it’s pretty much a job for life.
You really have to screw up to get fired from that job.
Of course, those appointments came hot on the heels of some rather generous donations to the Liberal Party.
In the past, Justice Minister David Lametti denied making judicial appointments based on who donates to the Liberal Party, and his office has done so again in this case.
“All judicial appointments are made on the basis of merit,” Lametti’s spokeswoman Rachel Rappaport said in a statement.
Excuse me if I have trouble believing them.
In April it was reported by the Globe and Mail that judicial appointments were being screened by the prime minister’s office through a party database of donors before appointments were made.
Candidates were even designated as ‘supporters’ if they had donated and been involved with the party sufficiently.
In their investigation, the Globe looked through the 289 judicial appointments made by the Trudeau government and then matched them to Elections Canada donations records.
“Over all, 1,187 contributions were matched to 83 judges — nearly one in three of those appointed. Seventy-five judges, or 90.4% of all judges who made donations, gave to the Liberal Party or its candidates,” the Globe reported.
Compare that to just nine judges that donated to the Conservatives, eight to the NDP and one to the Greens.
Look, I get that parties in power get to appoint whoever they like for positions ranging from judges to boards and commissions, ambassadors and more.
But this isn’t what Justin Trudeau promised.
Trudeau promised not to do this — he pledged merit based appointments.
And what do we keep getting? Liberal Party donors or failed candidates.
“Our country is stronger, and our government more effective, when decision makers reflect Canada’s diversity,” the Liberals said in their 2015 election platform.
“We will also adopt a new government-wide appointment process that is open and based on merit.”
Apparently, diversity for the Liberals means 90% Liberal donors.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently lost his chief of staff over a series of bad patronage appointments.
French resigned in the middle of the controversy.
This is far worse than that.
We aren’t talking about a party hack getting a plum appointment where they can do no real harm, we are talking about judges.
We are talking about people who cast judgements on murder cases, assault charges, divorce and family law — and those jobs are going to party donors, friends, neighbours and family?
Canadians deserve better than this, and they deserve some real answers from Justin Trudeau.
http://torontosun.com/opinion/colum...ing-family-friends-and-donors-as-judges-again
