So V ote

Jun/15/23 10:19:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I would like him to answer the same question I asked the Minister of Justice. Do we not run the risk of limiting the number of candidates who could be added to the list of judges and laypersons if we strike “as far as possible” from the sentence about selecting candidates who reflect diversity, especially given that there is a shortage of judges? The minister mentioned that the Canadian Judicial Council seemed convinced it would be able to fulfill an obligation of result in appointing people from diverse backgrounds. Does my colleague share the Minister of Justice's optimism given the current shortage of judges?

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Dec/9/22 12:52:03 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-9

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech and for the work that he did in committee that he mentioned in his speech. It is always interesting to see what arguments were presented there. First, for the record, I want to confirm to my colleague that I am not suggesting that there are judges who are impartial because of the appointment process, but rather that we must ensure that the appointment process itself does not give the appearance of partiality. With regard to the addition that he wanted to make to the bill of the possibility of appealing to the Federal Court of Canada, we know that not all appeals in the justice system are appeals as of right. Did my colleague want the appeal to the Federal Court to be an appeal as of right? If so, would that not be opening the door to unduly lengthening the proceedings? If he was talking about an appeal with leave, which is mostly the case at the Supreme Court, one must, at the very least, show that there are grounds for appeal, rather than just using this as purely dilatory measure.

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Dec/9/22 12:38:27 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-9

Mr. Speaker, if, every time we talk about reviewing the judicial appointment process, the government basically systematically closes the door on it when all we want is for the issue to be examined or considered, then, of course, that will likely not help with transparency and the public's confidence in the justice system. It is important to remember that judges rise through the courts. When a judge is appointed to a superior court, it is possible that they will one day serve on the Supreme Court, but it is rare for a Supreme Court justice to be appointed without first being appointed to a lower court. Taking a bottom-up approach would involve starting with the appointment of judges in the superior courts of Quebec and the provinces, and reviewing that process from the bottom up would likely lead de facto to better confidence in the rest of the process and in the path that judges may take to the Supreme Court.

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Dec/9/22 12:35:48 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-9

Mr. Speaker, I am tempted to talk about a bunch of things that stand out from that question. With regard to the review process referred to by the hon. member, one of the amendments adopted in committee was that, if the complaint is dismissed, the person who made the complaint should at least be informed of the reasons for dismissing it. This implies that a minimum of work must be done to explain why the complaint is not being pursued any further. This seems to have been a concern in the case my colleague mentioned. As for partisan appointments, having a transparent committee to select judges is already a step in the right direction, in order to ensure that judges are not always Liberal leaning, for example. This is what we have unfortunately seen in the past with the “Liberalist”. However, if we want to go a little further, there is one thing we must also consider: What happens to judges once they have completed their term on the bench? Many of them go to large firms, but others go to work for lobbies or for groups that are a little more partisan. Perhaps we should also review the possibility for judges, at the end of their term, to work in the private sector in businesses, groups, companies that may be considered more politically oriented, for example? There is work that could be done throughout a judge's life, from appointment to retirement, to ensure greater impartiality, generally speaking, and greater public confidence in the system.

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Dec/9/22 12:31:27 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-9

Mr. Speaker, I mentioned Albania because we had a discussion with Albania's justice minister. He said that the process for selecting judges is not just the responsibility of the government. It is an independent committee that is in charge of appointing judges. The parliamentary secretary mentions that there is no risk of a political appointment being made by the government. More than that, what matters is that there is no appearance of a risk. That is what a committee made up of parliamentarians from all parties represented in the House would allow. I think that is a solution that would clearly improve public trust in the process and at least deserves to be studied. We are not asking for more than that. I more than welcome the opportunity to have this debate at the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

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Dec/9/22 11:26:25 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, when Justice Paquette tells the government that it needs to hire a dozen judges, the government replies that it is short just nine. It has appointed only 10 judges since the beginning of the year. At this rate, it will take another year to fill the remaining positions. I cannot say for sure, maybe the Liberals are running out of names on the Liberalist, but the problem is that this is undermining the public's trust in the justice system. The system simply does not have the capacity to respond anymore. When will the Liberals take the judicial vacancy situation seriously?

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Dec/9/22 11:25:20 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, on Tuesday, the Chief Justice of the Quebec Superior Court, Marie‑Anne Paquette, criticized the fact that many trials have had to be postponed over the past few months because the Minister of Justice is taking too long to appoint judges. In one judicial district in the Montreal area, no hearings could be held for a month because there were no judges available. When the minister's office is asked about this, it responds that the appointments will be made in due course. Will the minister admit that due course has come and gone?

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Context: House Hansard - 115 - Oct/21/22

Dec/9/22 10:22:23 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-9

Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his speech. I always enjoy hearing him speak. He went on at length about how Bill C‑9 will maintain the public trust, and he also talked about the separation of powers among the legislative, executive and judicial branches, which is just as important and is also maintained in Bill C‑9. However, if there is one thing that makes us question that balance upon which the public trust relies, it is the judicial appointment process that precedes the potential removal of a judge from office, which one hopes would be a very infrequent occurrence. I would like the minister to comment on the possibility of revising the appointment process to make it as non-partisan and transparent as possible, thereby bolstering public confidence in the judicial system.

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Context: House Hansard - 115 - Oct/21/22

Oct/21/22 11:25:51 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Radio-Canada is reporting that the federal government is hunting down journalistic sources in order to punish a whistle-blower. It wants to know who disclosed that the federal government was appointing a unilingual English speaker as CEO of the Canadian Museum of History. What the government should have done was take a hard look in the mirror and ask why it continues to make unilingual English appointments. No, instead it searched the emails and phone records of 82 employees to find out who had spoken out. Why is it that the government's problem is not the appointment of a unilingual person, but the fact that everyone knows about it?

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Context: House Hansard - 90 - Jun/16/22

Oct/21/22 10:58:48 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-9

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. Aside from the very specific subject matter of Bill C-9, he talked about a few things that can sometimes contribute to a loss of public trust in our institutions, particularly legal and judicial institutions. Given that Bill C-9 deals with what happens further downstream, that is, after judges are appointed, I wonder if my colleague could comment on what happens upstream, in other words, how judges are appointed. Would this not have been a good opportunity to review the judicial appointment system, so we will never again have to talk about the notorious “Liberalist”?

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Context: House Hansard - 90 - Jun/16/22

Jun/16/22 11:52:39 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-9

Madam Speaker, I will not miss any opportunity to say that Quebec is forward-thinking and is doing great things that we should emulate more often. We need to have a much more transparent, non-partisan and depoliticized process. I will say it again, because this is key to having confidence in the justice system: The legislative, the executive, and the judicial branches must be kept separate, which is not the case with the “Liberalist”. This example is painfully obvious. Since most of the judges who sit in Quebec are federally appointed superior court judges, efforts to ensure a non-partisan appointment process will have a particular impact on the routine workings of the courts.

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Context: House Hansard - 90 - Jun/16/22

Jun/16/22 11:50:54 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-9

Madam Speaker, whether the role of an ombudsman is to protect victims or offenders, there is always a certain obligation to appoint someone quickly. When a position remains vacant for a long time, there will be a backlog of cases. Unfortunately, that has become this government's specialty. I am thinking in particular about the immigration file, which I carried for two years. I also think there should be more transparency with respect to certain appointments. For example, take the defence file, which is one of my files. We think the ombudsman should be accountable to the House, not the minister. That might have avoided some conflicts in the past, as in the Jonathan Vance case.

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