Law Times

Page 6 March 31, 2014 • Law TiMes www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT AG needs inspiring leadership ntario Premier Kathleen Wynne turned to a reliable per- former in naming Madeleine Meilleur as attorney general last week. A steady hand in cabinet, Meilleur, until recently the minister of community safety and correctional services, is a good pick for Ontario's top legal job. Of course, with an election looming, it's unclear how long she'll be in the post. Even if the Liberals manage to hang onto power, Wynne will likely be shuffl ing her ministers once again. It's too bad that Ontario continues to languish under political un- certainty given the pressing needs not just in the court and justice systems but across the government more generally. With the prov- ince continually bracing for an election, it's hard to get much done. As Law Times reports this week, the need for the renewal of court infrastructure continues with the government turning to portable courtrooms in Barrie, Ont., given a burgeoning caseload there. And important bills, such as the government's proposed law to tackle stra- tegic lawsuits against public participation, have foundered as the leg- islative process largely grinds to a halt. at's not to say there hasn't been progress. Most recently, for exam- ple, staff began moving into the new consolidated courthouse in Elgin Nadon case will serve as lesson against foolish appointments e should have suspected a legal fi asco might be in the making when Justice Marc Nadon told a parlia- mentary ad hoc committee the Detroit Red Wings had dra ed him at age 14. e NHL dra didn't even exist back then. Was he lying? No, he was likely just a bit confused. But the government is still review- ing the decision about Nadon's ineli- gibility to sit on the Supreme Court, a ruling Prime Minister Stephen Harper admitted last week had le him "very surprised." "What I can tell you is this: We're ob- viously going to respect the decision," Harper told a news conference following the conclusion of a two-day summit in e Hague. "We'll respect not just the letter of the decision. We will respect the spirit of the decision as well." e comments followed the Supreme Court's ruling that Nadon, a semi-re- tired Federal Court of Appeal judge, didn't meet the eligibility requirements to sit on the top court. e court found he had to have been a judge of the Que- bec Superior Court or the Quebec Court of Appeal or be a current member of the Quebec bar. We now know the Harper government tried to shi the responsibility away from itself by blaming it all on bad advice it got from three highly respected Cana- dian jurists: former Supreme Court judges Ian Binnie and Louise Charron as well as re- spected legal scholar Peter Hogg. Binnie got $6,000 for his advice, Charron $4,000, and Hogg $1,000. e govern- ment spent a further $250,000 on other expenses — all for nothing. e real question is how many other experts did the government pay for legal advice that it never followed? Now the government has to start all over again. Harper is used to getting his way with almost everything. at's everything, it seems, except the Supreme Court. He o en loses there. e government sat on its hands all weekend, but on Monday, with Harper off to Europe, Justice Minister Peter MacKay came out with his own surpris- ing announcement. He threw everybody for a loop by leaving it open as to what the government might do. Did the government have a trick up its sleeve to get Nadon onto the Supreme Court or was MacKay just afraid to say anything until the puppet master in the Netherlands had approved the next move? e opposition went nuts, as did a good part of the legal community. What sort of gov- ernment would play games with the highest court in the land just to get their guy on the bench and then put the blame on respected jurists? Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said it would be "a terrible idea" for Harper to try to pull another fast one on Canadians. By Tuesday, the boss had wrapped things up in Europe and it was time for straight talk. Harper was as clear as rock water that the government would re- spect both the letter and the spirit of the court's ruling. So here was Harper respecting both the law of the land and its highest court. Who could ask for anything more? But wasn't he unhappy? "But, look, that's the decision," said Harper last week. "We're still examining the decision. We haven't taken a decision on who the candidate will be. We haven't even taken a decision on taking a decision on the process." How's that for going at it a little more carefully this time around? Harper couldn't have been any clearer than that. It was no surprise that Nadon told the press soon a erwards that he was still thinking things over and that so far he hadn't even applied to get back into the Quebec bar, something some observers fi gure might be the easiest way to get him a quick seat on the Supreme Court bench. Nadon may instead head back to the Federal Court of Appeal where, by all accounts — except for Omar Khadr, of course — he did a fi ne job. Over at the Supreme Court, they still have to fi gure out how much of the $146,500 paid to Nadon for doing noth- ing since October he'll have to pay back. e Supreme Court job paid only $27,000 more than his Court of Appeal job and he hadn't yet quit that position. e Nadon case will likely serve as a good lesson for future federal govern- ments that might be contemplating something similarly foolish. As for Nadon, his Supreme Court career lasted about as long as his NHL career with Detroit. LT uRichard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His e-mail address is richardcleroux@rogers. com. ©2014 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, com- pleteness or currency of the contents of this pub- lication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. Publications Mail Agreement Number 40762529 • ISSN 0847-5083 Law Times is published 40 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. clb.lteditor@thomsonreuters.com CIRCULATIONS & SUBSCRIPTIONS $179.00 + HST per year in Canada for print and online (HST Reg. #R121351134), $145 + HST per year for online only. Single copies are $4.50. Circulation inquiries, postal returns and address changes should include a copy of the mailing label(s) and should be sent to Law Times One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto ON, M1T 3V4. Return postage guaranteed. Contact Keith Fulford at ........... 416-649-9585 or fax: 416-649-7870 keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com ADVERTISING Advertising inquiries and materials should be directed to Sales, Law Times, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON, M1T 3V4 or call: Kimberlee Pascoe ...............................416-649-8875 kimberlee.pascoe@thomsonreuters.com Grace So .............................................416-609-5838 grace.so@thomsonreuters.com Joseph Galea .......................................416-649-9919 joseph.galea@thomsonreuters.com Steffanie Munroe ................................416-298-5077 steffanie.munroe@thomsonreuters.com Director/Group Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . Karen Lorimer Editor in Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gail J. Cohen Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Glenn Kauth Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Yamri Taddese Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Santry Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mallory Hendry CaseLaw Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adela Rodriguez Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alicia Adamson Production Co-ordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . Catherine Giles Electronic Production Specialist . . . . . . . Derek Welford Law Times Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON • M1T 3V4 • Tel: 416-298-5141 • Fax: 416-649-7870 www.lawtimesnews.com • clb.lteditor@thomsonreuters.com • @lawtimes • clb.lteditor@thomsonreuters.com • @lawtimes u Editorial obitEr By Glenn Kauth County. At the same time, the Ministry of the At- torney General announced a deal with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union to resolve a dispute over contracting out court transcription work. But in the end, those are small steps. e mod- ernization needs of Ontario's justice system are far greater than the progress so far. While John Gerretsen did a good job as attorney general and Meilleur will likely continue in that fashion, let's hope the political situation in Ontario will soon al- low for more inspiring leadership able to lay out a long-term vision for change and concrete steps for achieving it. — Glenn Kauth O W The Hill Richard Cleroux

• Cover