While we're on the subject of judicial appointments, I can't neglect to mention Doug Ford's latest enormity, although I am heartily sick of reporting his constant political over-reaching.
Never one to beat about the bush (for which many people idolize him, regardless of the wisdom and ethical probity of some of the views he promotes), Ford is defending his right to appoint "like-minded" conservative judges, and to install two former political aides (and registered lobbyists) in the province's judicial appointments committee. An unrepentant Ford maintains that "we got elected to get like-minded people on appointments ... I am not going to appoint some NDP or some Liberal".
Of course, everybody else who is not a Conservative has called him out on this outright politicization of the judiciary, and raised the spectre of a political circus like occurs south of the border. Up till now, Canadian politicians have avoided going down that road, preferring to take the moral high-road and appoint judges on merit rather than political affiliation.
Decades of precedent may now be at risk. If Ford openly makes political appointments to the provincial judiciary, subsequent governments of other political stripes will feel obliged to rectify the situation, creating a political arms race which will end in the kind of shenanigans that routinely occurs in the US of A, a nasty outcome to be avoided at all costs.
Just by voicing his opinions on the matter, Ford has already tainted the whole process, including the legitimacy of recent appointees as well as future ones. Ford himself has expressed complete disbelief that so many people are kicking up a fuss about what he sees as "part of democracy" (or at least he pretends disbelief, it's hard to tell with Ford).
He just doesn't seem to understand that the judges are there to make sure that governments stay within their constitutional guardrails. If he starts to appoint "tame" judges, or if he insists on using the notwithstanding clause to overrule the judges - as he has done, and threatened to do, many times - then those constitutional guardrails are worthless. So, yes, a big deal, however much Ford may pretend otherwise.
Once more, Ford proves that he would be much more at home on an American MAGA ticket than as a circumspect Canadian politician. Can he (and Michelle Smith and Scott Moe and Pierre Poilievre and a few others) not be persuaded to decamp over the border? I'm sure they'd be much happier there.
No comments:
Post a Comment