New Process Unveiled to Pick Top Canadian Judges on Live TV

by Rob Walker | May 29, 2008 at 09:58 am

155 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

After the announcement by supreme court Justice Michel Bastarache, the search is on for a new top judge. But the process for how the new judge will be chosen is going to be a little different.

From now on, prospective supreme court judges will be vetted by MPs and politicians in a televised public hearing that will act as a public final job interview. This will allow people to get a better idea of the mechanisms for appointing the top justices in the country.

The new process has been followed on an ad-hoc basis since Prime Minister Harper's conservative government took power two years ago, and he hopes to enshrine the process permanently in June, when Bastarache leaves.

MPs will have a role in deciding the next appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada – but Prime Minister Stephen Harper will still get the final say.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced today that the government will compile an initial list of potential candidates to fill the vacancy left by Justice Michel Bastarache, who has announced his retirement.

The Conservative government plans to make it permanent that prospective Supreme Court of Canada judges will be vetted by politicians in a televised public hearing that will amount to a final job interview of sorts.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper adopted the process on an ad-hoc basis soon after coming to power two years ago and his government intends to enshrine the controversial practice when he replaces departing Justice Michel Bastarache, who retires at the end of June.

"I think Parliamentarians should be empowered and I think this is a good way of doing it," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Wednesday.