EDITORIAL: Slagging Manitoba judge is dirty politics

Manitoba Chief Justice Glenn Joyal should never have been pulled into the political fight in Ottawa.Getty Images

Dragging Manitoba’s chief justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench into the political sewer in Ottawa is a new low.

It’s bad enough we have a prime minister who believes it’s perfectly acceptable to politically interfere in the criminal case of a large company facing bribery and corruption charges. We now have political hacks leaking stories to the media about what should be the confidential process of appointing judges to Canada’s highest court.

Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, a highly respected member of Manitoba’s judiciary, was pulled into the political fray when someone leaked a story about him related to his candidacy for the Supreme Court of Canada. The process by which judges are appointed to the high court, or any court, are confidential. Those involved in the vetting, review and ultimately the appointment of candidates to the bench do not speak publicly about their deliberations, for obvious reasons.

Yet, someone decided to leak information about Joyal in an attempt to discredit former attorney Jody Wilson-Raybould. While doing so, they also smeared Joyal’s name, attempting to paint him — unfairly and entirely inaccurately — as an anti-Charter of Rights judge who doesn’t value Canada’s basic human rights.

Joyal, in his defence, released a statement in an effort to set the record straight. In doing so, he was forced to release personal information about his family to explain why he withdrew his candidacy for the position.

Judges in Canada are loath to get involved in any political dispute, much less one as toxic as the scandal swirling around the Trudeau government. It’s not every day Canada has a prime minister who openly flouts the rule of law by attempting to politically interfere in a criminal prosecution. It’s even worse when political operatives within that polluted environment try to sully the good name of a judge to further their own political agenda.

Canada values the independence of its judiciary and the separation of the judicial branch of government from the legislative and executive branches of government. Strict adherence to those important democratic principles is part of what makes Canada unique in the world, a world in which many nation-states do not enjoy the political stability, social order and adherence to the rule of law that we do.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, by attempting to interfere in a criminal prosecution, and whoever decided to smear a Manitoba judge’s name, are compromising those principles. Canadians shouldn’t stand for it. They deserve better from their political leaders.

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