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Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site lsuc.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utcsri!utcs!lsuc!dave
From: dave@lsuc.UUCP
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Feeding of Old Politicians
Message-ID: <553@lsuc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 29-Mar-85 13:24:25 EST
Article-I.D.: lsuc.553
Posted: Fri Mar 29 13:24:25 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Mar-85 13:43:02 EST
References: <982@ubc-cs.UUCP> <7364@watrose.UUCP>
Reply-To: dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman)
Distribution: can
Organization: Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto
Lines: 31
Summary: Judges are appointed fairly

In article <7364@watrose.UUCP> gwhawkins@watrose.UUCP (Larry Fast) writes:
||I have nothing against throwing the old politicians into the Senate,
||after all it is related to politics.  What I do object to is the
||control the government has on the appointment of Judges.
||
||Do you want to be judged by a good toe kisser?

Since judges can't reply to this kind of cheap shot in public
(quite apart from the fact that there are no judges on the net...),
I'll reply.

Judicial appointments are, on the whole, made very carefully.
I've forgotten the exact procedure, but there are recommendations
from and consultation with the Canadian Bar Association committee
on judicial appointments. I can not think of a single high court
judge in Canada who I would not consider well qualified. Yes, there
have been appointments of former politicians, including those in
last year's round of Trudeau-leaving appointments, but the judges
in question are well qualified for their posts. (If someone served
as an MP for many years, it certainly indicates that he had the
confidence and respect of the public.)

On top of that, don't forget that almost all lawyers who become
judges take a substantial pay cut to do so, and must give up
many of their social contacts and activities.

David Sherman
The Law Society of Upper Canada
-- 
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