Judicial appointments: The opposition demands the government

In an article published on Saturday, Radio Canada revealed that Justice Minister David Lametti had, by mistake, announced last week at Twitter The appointment of three new judges who were not among the five unveiled in a press release, shortly before.

They include attorney Daniel Orbas, appointed to the Supreme Court of Quebec, who is a benefactor to Mr. Lametti, according to data compiled by the Canadian Elections Commission.

This appointment has not yet been formalized, but if confirmed, he will be the second judge appointed to contribute to the nomination contest for Mr Lametti, after Philip Bellanger was appointed to the Supreme Court of Quebec, last year.

In the House of Representatives on Monday, the Conservatives and the Bloc took turns to invite the government.

Regarding the Bloc of Quebecois, MP for Riviere de Nord, and Coke Quebecois, a critic of justice, Real Fortin, the government should adopt Fair recruitment process Before any new announcement.

The government ensures compliance with applicable rules

The head of government in the House of Commons, Pablo Rodriguez, rather than his minister, assured that the government respects all established rules.

It is clear that the process is carried out in complete independence, while respecting all applicable rules., He said.

But Rep. Fortin returned to the charge, accusing the Liberals of using the Liberal Party database, called Liberal, Which contains detailed information on the interactions of some candidates with the party, in the process of selecting future judges. Prove, according to Mr. Fortin, that the criteria chosen are not neutral.

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Aref Ferrani, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (archive)

Photo: CBC

Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Arif Ferrani also confirmed that the process has been in place To recruit qualified judges, but they also represent our diversity.

We want to confirm that the Commissioner [aux conflits d’intérêts et] To the ethics raised that the fact of donating, simply, does not create bonds of friendship, that is, we are doing a good job in diversifying the judges and recruiting suitable candidates for the platform., He continued.

But for Mr. Fortin, the problem is not the type of candidate, but the hiring of people who have made donations to the Liberal Party of Canada. And for him, this is not a coincidence.

But MP Aref Ferrani insisted that the announcement of Mr. Orbas’s appointment was made by the Ministry of Justice and not by the minister himself.

We have already apologized to the appointees. We have communicated the apology. We fixed the problem and the situation, Confirmed.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett (archive)

Photo: Canadian Press / Adrian Wilde

The responses that Mr. Virani also provided to the Conservative MP for Leeds – Greenville – Thousand Islands and Redux Lakes, and the ethics critic at PCCCanadian Conservative PartyMichael Barrett, who was coming back to demand merit-based hires.

For an Ontario MP, if liberal government appointments are truly based on merit and transparency, Why did Minister Lamty delete the condemnation tweet? Asked.

Being a liberal donor is clearly a prerequisite to being hired on the platform.Mr. Barrett was fired.

Parliamentary Secretary Lamiti accused his opponents of being biased on this issue.

But his answers apparently did not convince the Quebec bloc, which dismantled a press release at the end of Monday, that it believed that The credibility of the entire justice system is compromised by liberals when they verify the liberal loyalty of candidates before they are appointed to these top positions..

The liberals must be held accountable and an end to this bad practice.

Competence should be the only criterion for selecting judges, especially not their proximity to the liberal family.As Mr. Fortin says.