Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 8, 1985, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press october in focus judges picked by patronage by Jim can special to the free press just after the charter of rights became a professor at the University of Manitoba quipped the charter of rights represents a shift in Power from liberals who were elected to liberals who were de although the government has changed since those words were the fact endures that More authority is now vested in the judiciary than at any time in Cana Dian the Brethren of the Bench have the Power to affect our lives unlike any other group in within the constraints prescribed by they can take away our shift the tax Settle virtually any dispute Between people in the most chilling of take away our Freedom by sending us to How should these men and women be appointed How much should they be paid to whom Are they accountable the court of Appeal is the court of last resort in the province of its decisions Are subject Only to review by the supreme court of Canada in most in Only after the supreme court agrees to assign sufficient importance to the Case to warrant a final the seven men who comprise the Appeal court Are appointed by the prime minister or the minister of Justice until the age of they can be removed from office Only through impeachment by the parliament of the question of judicial appoint ments is bound up in the patronage controversy which swelled in Canada during the dying Days of the Trudeau firm believer Justice Charles Huband of the Manitoba court of Appeal is a firm believer in the patronage process and displayed refreshing and unusual Candor during a recent inter prefacing his comments by noting he Speaks for himself and not the Justice Huband said he is a Strong believer in the patronage sensible Patron age is healthy for the political Structure and does and can produce excellent i dont see the Merit in de politicizing the pro the benefits of says Justice flow to the very fabric of the party system in Cana it would be More difficult to attract men and women to the political process if there were no opportunities for while most lawyers and judges agree that judicial appointments have generally been of a High Quali there is divided opinion on the method of attorney general Roland Penner believes in wider consultation among Legal a Law societies and bar As until he was satisfied with the but the appointments to the Queens Bench Alfred Monnin Roy Matas announced last week by Justice minister John Crosbie were made without any consultation with for reasons not yet Ascer says the process broke he was not bad judgments Are More Likely to be made when they Are seen to be politically Penner and the Best Way to ensure they Are not is to strengthen the process at the front the at Torne general favors a system whereby the minister of Justice chooses from a Short list prepared by the Legal no business Justice Huband thinks there is too much consultation already and says that Law Socie ties and bar All of whom Are acquisitive of Power have no business making these decisions because they Are not accountable for an appointment process which is seen to be fair is particularly important Given the extraordinary tenure offered to members of the once they re main in office until the age of unless they behave so badly that the judicial Council of Canada reprimands them and recommends impeachment by whatever the system of judicial it is obvious to All that it is in the country interest to attract the most Able and qualified men and women to the Al though the Power and prestige of the office would seem to furnish incentive there is growing concern that judges Are this is a Tricky Issue for How can they convince the voters that a year Falls Short of the Mark leading members of the bar earn incomes twice or three times that figure and Deputy minis ters in the Federal government Are eligible for higher Roland Penner thinks judges Are paid Well Are you turning away the real luminaries or the ones with the greatest earning potential he if we Only went after those then the courts would be stacked with All the Bank insurance and commercial Law in spite of the salary constraints and the method of Penner says appointments Over the past three Gordon Hall Joseph Osullivan Alan Philp Charles Huband Kerr twaddle court seen As but quarrelsome Manitoba Legal fraternity re Gards the court of Appeal As competent if lawyers Are sometimes disconcerted at the spectacle of judges bickering publicly with each these Cap sule descriptions of the justices reflect a wide Range of opinion among chief Justice Alfred Monnin Mem the chief was appointed to the court of Queens Bench in to the court of Appeal in 1962 and elevated to chief Justice in he is widely respected for his along with Justice the Best prepared on the off the Bench he is considered charming and on the he is prone to Quick temper and Strong he has the reputation of speaking his mind regardless of the he is seen As a conservative influence on the Justice Roy Matas age appointed to the Queens Bench by Pierre Trudeau when the former prime minister was minister of Justice in appointed to the court of Appeal in the favorite of Many lawyers because of his temperament and courteous is considered hard to predict in his a compassionate and gentle Liberal roots Are Defeated candidate in the provincial Riding of River Justice Gordon Hall appointed to the court of Queens Bench in 1965 and to the court of Appeal in aged considered prag Matic and with lots of Street movie Star Good considered by some coun Sels to be less interested and More aloof than his before his appointment to the was a highly effective organizer for the Liberal he has led several commissions and is highly regarded for his attention to the most Cost conscious member of the Justice Joseph Osullivan Mem at the Best Legal mind on the constantly testing the breadth and capacity of coun a mischievous Bent which can be foreboding and frightening to always Well using his knowledge to take coun Sel into a researched Corners of the interrupts More than any of his colleagues and re Lishes the role of devils before going to the Bench he served As president of the Liberal party of Manitoba and was an unsuccessful candidate in bran Justice Alan Philp aged appointed chief of the county court in 1973 and to the court of Appeal in another courteous and gentle Well liked by the bar but not taken considered the kind of per son not to be fooled Strong views and not easily a Quick very Bright and a delightful before the was an Active father was a Justice Charles Huband i aged appointed directly to the court of Appeal in within a year of giving up the leadership of the Liberal party of by far the most forthcoming and can did member of the consid ered to be More Liberal than most but some say that will not always in a Good mood and pleas ant to appear some say experience As a trial judge would have made him less Apt to retry Good sense of humor and easily the most physically fit of the he runs Justice Kerr twaddle at the newest member of the court appointed this year by the Mulroney too Early to assess his performance but the bar has a High regard for his Intelli All the tools necessary to distinguish As a was considered one of the coun try Foremost constitutional experts and was retained by govern ments of All known to have been a conservative party sup years were High Quality and have strengthened the judiciary in Mani last the Federal govern ment introduced a Bill in Parlia ment which would raise salaries of court of Appeal justices to this increase Falls Short of recommendations contained in a report prepared by former Liberal Justice minister Otto which suggested a pay hike to among the most vexatious issues facing the particularly in the Wake of the charter of rights and is the extent to which judges May comment on current political it is one of the ironies of their status that judges speak freely about politics in private but not in while speaking freely of their judicial decisions in remaining tight lipped about them in in a judges Are forced to live an isolated insulated from pub Lic pressures and immune from criticism of their motives and con although their judgments Are fair the Laws of contempt protect them from any accusation which May bring the administration of Justice into while we expect the courts to inter pret a wide Range of Laws affecting social and economic the Protection of individual rights and indeed the Basic fabric of Canadian we demand their removal from the dynamics of the under our system it cannot be the courts Are the guardians of minority rights and individual As they cannot be accountable to the people but they must be accountable to the Laws made by the politicians who they protect us from the Tyr Anny of the majority and must be protected from the majority these realities of life on the Bench Are Manifest in Many most judges will not go near Jour adopting a policy of saying nothing on the Community service becomes problematic be cause of potential by and the judiciary is a conservative both in form and in that is Why most observers agree that the charter of rights will not produce the revolution some says Otto i dont think Many judges want to usurp the Power of the Lang is Well Quali fied to address these As minister of Justice for four years during the Trudeau Lang appointed some 150 men and women to the he says the present system works Fine As Long As the minister of Justice has guts and a determination to have a Quality what sort of qualities did he look for when considering judicial appointments a Good human if they knew a Little Law it was did it help to be a Liberal it didst it kept me Clear of trouble with my col All parties claim a Victory of sorts in Kildonan did the nip Victory in the Kildonan by election signify anything depending on when and where it such a contest May provide a sign of things to come in a general election or merely a localized response with few implications on a province wide when Howard Pawley set the Date for the by election to fill the vacancy created by the death of Mary Beth he talked about it being a test of the political but after admitted the climate Only applied to a limited Between 15 and 20 Ridings Are regarded As bellwether with voters shifting with the political such As Dauphin and tend to elect a member of the party in remain relatively supporting a specific party for despite the influx of Middle and upper mid dle income which was carved out of the seven Oaks Riding in the last redistribution of electoral is still regarded As nip voters have not deviated from that path since the Diefenbaker sweep of with that the premiers expectation of a Victory was no but recall ing the by elections held during the tory he knew that such exercises Are not necessarily indicative of the in Lyon government scheduled contests in three Ridings River which had been represented by a fort by a Liberal and Rossmere by a new thirty five Days later each party won the seat it had formerly but by smaller percentages than the previous the number of votes received by the candidates May provide a hint about the in fort for the nip narrowed the under the dome Arlene Billinkoff Gap to less than 300 votes and the Riding did change hands when the nip swept to Power in on other by election results reflect feelings of a particular time and do not carry Forward to the general that May have occurred in the fort Garry by election last with Only 52 per cent of the electorate going to the the liberals moved from their previous third place to with 25 per cent of the 10 Points ahead of the that response was regarded As a reflection of Public Dis pleasure with both government and opposition handling of the French language which had not yet faded from nevertheless the dissatisfaction did not really Hurt the although they received a smaller percentage of the party continued its hold on the much the same thing occurred in where the nip but by less of a majority than in although diehard tories had talked about a slim the Winner was never really in in the general 77 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots and of the nip received 55 per this with More than half the voters staying of the approximately who exercised their less than 50 per cent supported the nip As party workers admitted during the Victory there had been some difficulty getting people did that mean citizens were so satisfied they did not believe their votes were needed or they cared so Little about any candidate that it was not Worth the Effort tories also talked about those who stayed insisting that canvassing had indicated potential support of up to their Bev received Only about although the difference Between the two leading candidates had decreased to Only votes and the nip plurality had dropped by about five percent age Points since the last a loss remained a regardless of Gary Fil Mons claim that the nip was losing the tories had Little reason to be encouraged by the if Ever there had been an Opportunity to this was the As Marty Dolin noted in his acceptance Federal and provincial tories deserved some credit for his As for the they were pleased about receiving More with almost compared to 700 last but unlike the fort Garry the party reaped Little Benefit from any anti tory or anti nip about the Only thing they could View with satisfaction was that if the final count indicates the candidate received at least 10 per cent of total popular he and the party will qualify for a refund of half of allowable election Courtesy of the election finances act which came into effect this the progressives will not receive such financial but with 200 More they could claim More each party claimed a form of but was there a real Winner despite the joking by one Cabinet minister that Pawley would be arriving with the election writs in his Back another minister admitted it would be very cynical to Call a general election at it would make the Bye Lection exercise a total waste of Money and in the nip was not yet prepared for a major one seat doth not a government admitted the and the election was not Likely to be called until late Spring or Early because so much work remained to be for the his party had won a it May not be a great or even a preview of the but at least the residents of Kildonan will have a representative in the next sitting however Brief it May they were the Only True doonesbury 70 1 by Garry Trudeau Tarqu Newm j Only a3 a in mostly into hockey into him 5iucohvauzy so i ;