Angry in the Great White North

From Radio-Canada, translated by Babelfish and yours truly:

The allegations of Benoit Corbeil continue to make waves. In an interview in Radio-Canada, last week, the former general manager of the Liberal Party of Canada in Quebec supported that the candidates of interest to the magistrature would have worked for the Liberal Party of Canada.

Since, several voices rose to defend the objectivity of the Consultative Committee which chooses the candidates with the magistrature. It is starting from the recommendations of this committee that the Minister for Justice names the judges.

But according to information's obtained by Radio-Canada, the Consultative Committee counted several active liberal militants during 10 last years.

From 1999 to 2004, Bernard Synnott represented the Bar of Quebec at the committee. From 1994 to 1999, he chaired the association of the PLC in Outremont, the district of the ex-minister of justice, Martin Cauchon.

In addition to Mr. Synnott, Caroline Savic, current vice-president of the Quebec section of the Liberal Party, sat there too. In 2000, she was member of the electoral commission of Liberal Party of Canada (Quebec) at the sides of Alfonso Gagliano and Claudette Tessier-Seam, now judge at the higher Court.

Johanne Embroiderer, current president of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Liberal Party of Canada, was also member of the committee for a few years. Just like Andre Bourbonnais and Jacques Beïque, friends of Martin Cauchon, named when he was Minister of Justice.

According to Bernard Synnott, years of militancy never harmed its objectivity "You cannot imagine at which point it is not all policy. And the political consideration or the political allegiance, it was the least of my concern and the least of the concern of the members of the committee."

He recalls that at last stage of the committee, the Minister for Justice has all the freedom to choose judges "This leaves the hands of the committee and it is the politician who decides nomination".

Two of the six named judges the last autumn at the higher Court of Quebec worked for the team of Paul Martin in the last elections.

The police chief with the federal magistrature, David Gourdeau, does not worry.

"If the political participation were a prevention with the magistrature, that would worry me and in the same way if it were a prerequisite. It is neither a prevention nor a precondition "

David Gourdeau has more faith in the system than I do. In Canada, judicial appointments are not reviewed by Pariliament. Compare that to the United States, where such appointments are vetted by a congressional committee. The argument has been that in Canada we want to avoid the "circus" of partisan one-upmanship that is characteristic of the American system. But for all the sound and fury, the American system takes checks-and-balances seriously. In Canada, the Minister of Justice (or the Prime Minister, in the case of appointments to the Supreme Court) have a free hand and there is no means by which to challenge their choices. And so we have the allegations of Benoit Corbeil, which are taken seriously, since it would be so simple for the Minister to grant appointments on the basis of political allegience.

Sounds like a circus in the making to me.