Two Supreme Court of Canada judges from Ontario, Justices Ian Binnie and Louise Charron, are retiring this summer. By virtue of mandatory retirement at age 75, another three judges – Justices Louis LeBel and Morris Fish from Quebec, and Justice Marshall Rothstein from Manitoba – must retire by the end of 2015. This gives Prime Minister Stephen Harper a chance to replace more than half of the court by the time his majority government comes to an end in four years.
Legion are the reasons for concern as to what Harper could do with this power. His use of the power to appoint (as well as the power not to reappoint and to dismiss) outside of the judicial arena has often borne the marks of his will to control, his commitment to partisan agendas, and his ends-justifies-the-means approach to ethics. The stage has been set by powerful cabinet minister Jason Kenney, who, prior to the federal election, criticized Federal Court judges for interpreting the law differently from the government in certain cases. Nominating two Tories to the Senate, after they had already resigned from the Senate to run (unsuccessfully) for Parliament in the election, is also worth noting.
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