Danielle Smith is on the warpath again. Yawn.
This time she is demanding - demanding, I say - that the province of Alberta have more say over the appointment of judges. She also wants a relaxation of the requirement for bilingualism in the higher echelons of the legal profession because, well, Albertans don't do bilingualism.
It's like she and her administration stay up at night thinking up new ways to nettle the federal government, the prettier the issue the better. It seems that her voting constituency, which contains a fair few Alberta separatists, expect it of her. But, man, is the rest of the country fed up with it!
So, this is a woman who has often complained about the juduciary not doing what she wants, indeed having the temerity to have different political opinions and worldviews to her. This is a woman who has openly stated that she would like to be able to politically vet judges, America-style (and look how well that system is going...) Alberta judges felt compelled to make a public complaint after that, calling on Smith to respect the independence of the judicial appointment system.
And she expects Ottawa to hand over more control? She's even gone full Trump, threatening to withold Alberta's funding of.the judicial system is she doesn't get what she wants. She may just as well have said she will impose tariffs if she doesn't get her way.
Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser has, quite rightly, dismissed Smith's "demands" out of hand, saying, "I'm planning to maintain the process that we have in place, that has independence, that has rigour, that has led to stellar candidates being appointed, including as recently in Alberta". A little mor tongue in cheek, Fraser says, "We welcome the feedback from representatives of the Alberta government ... it's been very helpful".
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