44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 24, 2022 10:00AM
- Nov/24/22 10:22:02 a.m.
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- Re: Bill S-4
Madam Speaker, my colleague opposite cannot say that I never agree with him. In general, I agree with him on Bill S-4.
That being said, there are problems that this bill does not resolve. The bill does, however, make it possible to revert back to the standard, usual, traditional way of doing things in the event of connection issues.
The fact remains that there are many judicial vacancies and that the Parole Board of Canada has internal issues.
When will these problems be fixed? When will the government ensure that the judges who are appointed are not appointed for partisan reasons?
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- Nov/24/22 10:22:04 a.m.
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- Re: Bill S-4
First of all, Madam Speaker, I can assure the member that judges today who are appointed are not appointed on a political basis. There is a process that has been in place, and the government is very careful in terms of the manner in which judicial judges are appointed.
I believe one of the changes was put in place back in 2015, when the Prime Minister was elected and instructed with the Minister of Justice at the time. I see that as a very strong positive. In fact, with respect to the judicial appointments and judges who have been appointed to the different chambers, there is a better cross-section and reflection of what our society looks like.
I would suggest that the government of the day has done a first-class job in terms of judicial appointments. I am anticipating that we will continue to see that, as we are very aware of the importance of ensuring that, as much as possible, we are getting justice as quickly as possible.
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- Nov/24/22 12:28:35 p.m.
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- Re: Bill S-4
Mr. Speaker, I listened closely to my colleague's speech on Bill S‑4, among other things.
My colleague spoke at length about the justice system, and I think it is important that we have a strong one. In that regard, there is something that Quebec has been calling for for years but that my colleague did not mention in her speech, nor did I see it in Bill S‑4, which is before us today. I am talking about the whole issue of judicial appointments. Why is it that Quebec judges are appointed by the federal government?
I think it would make sense for Quebec to choose the judges who will be ruling on cases involving Quebeckers. I wonder if her government is open to agreeing to this long-standing request of Quebec's. Is there any chance that might happen one day?
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- Nov/24/22 1:35:24 p.m.
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- Re: Bill S-4
Mr. Speaker, I appreciated my colleague's speech, particularly when she mentioned the importance of reviewing how judges are appointed and avoiding any partisan lists.
Part of what I understand about this bill is that it is designed to avoid or reduce delays. There have been delays that have resulted in major cases being dismissed because of the Jordan decision. Again, it is nice to harness technology, but if there are not enough judges to hear cases, the issues stemming from the Jordan decision will continue.
I am wondering if my colleague has any suggestions for the government so that we do not see a repeat of issues that have occurred in the past as a result of the lack of judges.
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- Nov/24/22 1:36:20 p.m.
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- Re: Bill S-4
Mr. Speaker, that is a massive problem. We see this across the country. I know that in Alberta this is a big problem. When judges are not being appointed fast enough and we do not have enough judges in place, that interferes with justice for Canadians. We have seen it happening multiple times. We have seen cases having to be cancelled, because there was not that judicial leadership.
The government needs to have a better and more transparent process in place. Another piece of this is that the public does not believe our judges are appointed in a fair, transparent and non-partisan way, so we need to make sure that is happening at both the federal and provincial levels and that we are ensuring we have the adequate level of judges available to make sure our judicial system can continue to run.
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