Law Times

Law Times • January 23, 2012 NEWS PAGE 5 Politics 'just another facet of their community involvement' Continued from page 1 election. Three other people with Tory ties, in fact, received appointments at the same time as Abrams: Lawrence O'Neil, a Conservative MP from 1984-88, who became the associate chief justice of the family division of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, as well as Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Associate Chief Justice William Burnett and Superior Court Justice Christopher Bondy in Windsor, Ont. Both Burnett and Bondy had previously donated to the Conservatives, media reported. But James Morton, a Toronto lawyer, author, and member of the Liberal party, says that while he agrees that the optics of such appointments can be poor, eliminat- ing everyone who has political ties could significantly shrink the pool of qualified candidates. "I really don't see anything wrong with that," he says. "Clearly, if you have a situa- tion where you are buying a judgeship by making a donation and you get an appoint- ment, that would be highly inappropriate and deeply offensive. But to say that some- one who is deeply involved in the political system is therefore barred from becoming a judge I think would really limit the number of excellent appointments you can have. "Having said that, people who have run, people who have contributed, people who have been involved in various political par- ties have been appointed to the bench and some have raised concerns over it." Still, Morton believes there should be a waiting period of at least two years before an appointment. "It's important that people feel confident in their judges and recognize they've not been appointed just as a politi- cal favour," he says. But Morton doesn't think it's correct to say that governments appoint judges because of their political affiliations. "I think sometimes their politics is just another facet of their community involve- ment and it helps them to get appointed that way. Having said that, there are political con- siderations that go into appointments and that I see as unfortunate. I think that the political involvement should be seen as a plus whether it be political involvement with the Conservatives, NDP, Liberals or the Green Party. I don't think it should be held against you that you ran for one party or another." Morton recalls a conversation he had with a former attorney general of a prov- ince he won't name. He notes the person provided a pretty clear view of what hap- pens. "He said to me, 'Look, when we're appointing judges, we don't really want to appoint people who are partisan but we do want to appoint people who are consistent with our view of the justice system,' and I think that makes sense," says Morton. One critic has decided to keep note of not just judicial appointments but also peo- ple named to the Parole Board of Canada, the Canada Pension Plan review tribunal, the Royal Canadian Mint, and other gov- ernment bodies on the web site sixthestate. net. The site includes a patronage list detail- ing 721 appointments by the Conservative government since Harper became prime minister in 2006. "Stephen Harper once denounced this system as the prime minister rewarding his 'buddies,' but while in office has been uninter- ested in changing the system. Instead, he has continued to appoint party insiders and sup- porters at a frenzied pace, even to the Senate, which he once demanded be fully democra- tized through elected senators with term lim- its," the web site charges. LT Continued from page 1 translates into a slower growth period. I think unless there's a compelling public policy rea- son to keep an asset, you'll start seeing more and more govern- ments at all levels becoming more creative with the assets they do own." Still, for companies willing to make strategic decisions despite marketplace volatility, the results could be very lucrative, says Ter- ence Dobbin, chairman of Nor- ton Rose Canada's mergers-and- acquisitions team. "Despite the general lack of certainty, good transactions are taking place and there are still strong companies that are doing M&A," says Dobbin. "Canadian resource assets still remain in- credibly attractive and although it has been a challenge over the last couple of years, there has been increased activity in cer- tain sectors. Overall, Canada is still seen as a very safe place to invest in. It's hard to do better than Canada right now." Still, Bill Jenkins, national co-chairman of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP's mergers-and- acquisitions group, says that while Canada's oil, gas, and mining sectors will continue to play an important role in this year's outlook, lawyers shouldn't expect to return to the frenzied pace of a few years ago. "M&A deals will take much longer to complete now and will not happen with the same fre- quency of pace that they did years ago," says Jenkins. "I don't expect it to be a year where we double our work. In fact, I imagine it will stay relatively steady and will have more in common with the last 20 years than the frenzied pace be- tween 2005 and 2007. I don't see a return to that for several years." In the meantime, poten- tial buyers in China are getting bolder and braver, he adds, by gobbling up larger companies aſter previously opting for much smaller chunks of the global pie. "As long as China continues to grow and play a role in that way, it will be a very important part of Untitled-2 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 12-01-19 9:23 AM the M&A scene," Jenkins notes. One recent example Of the completed Canadian is the $6.3-billion failed bid for Equi- nox Minerals Ltd. by Chinese company Minmetals Resources Ltd. Barrick Gold Corp. even- tually bought Equinox for $7.3 billion late last month in a high- ly publicized acquisition. Dob- bin led the Norton Rose team that acted for Barrick. Acquisitions like the Equinox purchase might be a hint of what's to come, according to Jenkins. "Companies with the proper re- sources can still be attracted, par- ticularly when it involves China, and I think we'll continue to see investments into the new year, es- pecially if the U.S. economy holds up and eventually brings in more investors," he says. In the meantime, new figures released by Thomson Reuters show the number of deals over $1 billion decreased only slightly from 2010 figures last year, drop- ping to 33 from 37 transactions. By comparison, worldwide merg- ers-and-acquisitions activity was up marginally in 2011. transactions last year, accord- ing to Thomson Reuters, Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP ranked No. 1 with a 22.4-per-cent mar- ket share; Osler Hoskin & Har- court LLP came in second with a 21.6-per-cent share; and Torys LLP was third at 19.1 per cent. LT ANNOUNCEMENT Beth Symes and Carol Street are pleased to welcome Ben Millard as their partner and to announce that our fi rm's name has changed to Symes Street & Millard LLP effective January 1, 2012. 1.416.920.3030 www.ssmlaw.ca Symes Street & Millard Barristers and Solicitors 133 Lowther Ave. Toronto, ON, Canada M5R 1E4 SymesStreet_LT_Jan23_11.indd 1 12-01-18 9:36 AM China becoming bigger player in Canadian M&A

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