Law Times

Law Times • June 18, 2018 Page 5 www.lawtimesnews.com 'Exciting but excruciating' time for elected MPPs Who will be Ontario's next attorney general? BY JENNIFER BROWN For Law Times A s everyone ponders who will get tapped for attorney general in Ontario's next gov- ernment, it would seem pre- mier-designate Doug Ford has a number of lawyers to choose from based on those who won in their respective ridings on June 7. Ronald Bohm, president of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Asso- ciation, says a number of names come to mind. They include Orillia lawyer Doug Downey, elected in Pat- rick Brown's former riding of Barrie-Spri ng water-Oro-Me- donte, or Ross Romano from the riding of Sault Ste. Marie, who served as in-house duty counsel at the Sault Ste. Marie courthouse, assistant Crown attorney and a municipal pros- ecutor for the City of Sault Ste. Marie. There is also Roman Baber, who took on York Centre, his- torically held by Monte Kwinter and the Liberals for 25 years, who won the riding. Baber is a lawyer and partner with a small law firm practising insurance and commercial litigation. Bohm also highlighted Car- oline Mulroney in York-Simcoe and Christine Elliott in New- market-Aurora as possible con- siderations for AG. Elliott was also the name put forward by criminal lawyer Frank Addario. "I would say without know- ing many of the possible [can- didates] that Christine Elliott is one obvious choice. A smart lawyer," said Addario. Walied Soliman, chairman of Norton Rose Fulbright Can- ada LLP and former chairman of the Ontario PC party election campaign, says Prab Sarkaria, a corporate commercial associate from the riding of Brampton South, would be a good choice. "There are many very quali- fied MPPs that premier-elect Ford can pick from. One unique idea would be star MPP Prab Sarkaria. He is a lawyer at Miller Thomson and would be Ontar- io's first Sikh attorney general," Soliman said in an emailed comment. Bohm praised the work of former Liberal attorney general Yasir Naqvi, who lost his Ot- tawa Centre seat to NDP candi- date Joel Harden. "He [Naqvi] did a good job. He introduced new policy re- forms and simplified proce- dures that I hope will be contin- ued," he says. For example, in October, Naqvi announced a new bail directive for Crown prosecutors that could see more people be- ing released from custody while awaiting trial. Former attorney general Michael Bryant, now executive director and general counsel at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, declined to offer his thoughts on who the next AG might be, but he said the in- dividual really fulfils two roles — "one is political and one is in- dependent." He noted that it can be an "exciting but excruciating" time for elected MPPs as they wait by the phone to see if they are cho- sen for cabinet positions. While a number of high- profile candidates in the On- tario PC Party are lawyers, a re- cent Canadian Bar Association seminar in St. John's explored the fact that, over the last few decades, there has been a steep decline in the number of law- yers serving in public office. Bryant says there are several reasons for that — remunera- tion being one of them. "MPP salaries have been fro- zen for many years and, while they are just as busy as members of Parliament, they make a lot less," he says. It's also a ref lection of the primary issues at stake in pro- vincial politics — education and health care and the fact more educators and those experi- enced as school board trustees and business backgrounds are seeking out political office. Bryant says it wasn't a di- rect response to the Progressive Conservative win but because a change in government, espe- cially after a long period of the same party being in power gov- ernment, makes some citizens nervous. "We've never crunched the numbers to see if we get more civil liberties issues with one government over another, but [we] know it can affect our busi- ness," he says. When populist governments are elected to power claiming to speak "for the people," Bry- ant says, it can cause concern for those who worry about human rights violations. "Time will tell whether or not this is indeed a populist gov- ernment, but it is becoming a concern globally," he says. LT NEWS TRUE CASES BY & ABOUT CANADIAN WOMEN AND THE LAW TRUDELL & SHYBA EDITORS DURVILE WOMEN IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE TRUE CASES BY & ABOUT CANADIAN WOMEN& THE LAW WOMEN IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE Durvile Publications TRUE CASES SERIES BOOK 4 Edited by William Trudell & Lorene Shyba Partial proceeds of Women in Criminal Justice go to Indigenous youth writers workshops in the Northwest Territories. " The reader emerges from reading Women in Criminal Justice with pictures in mind ... women who work without respite to achieve just outcomes for the people they deal with, often in the face of difficulty and at considerable personal cost." — The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin From her Foreword Hon. Susan Lang on flawed forensic evidence Hon. Nancy Morrison on a horrendous case of sexual abuse Hon. Lise Maisonneuve on emergence of women in criminal law Hon. Danielle Côté on the pressures of Judging Hon. Iona Jaffe on the Toronto 18 terrorism Senator Kim Pate on Indigenous women in prison Jennifer Briscoe on the Northern Fly-in Squad Catherine Dunn on Indigenous victims of violence Kaysi Fagan on a woman in the world of drug trafficking Deborah Hatch on ubiquitous wrongful convictions Karen Hudson on the gallery of criminal justice Barbara Jackman on immigration and human rights Lucie Joncas on interacting with a population at risk Susan Kyle on being a Crown and a mother Jill Presser on the fight for LGBTQ+ justice Rosellen Sullivan on a 13-year-old's loss of innocence Jennifer Trehearne on interaction of courts and mental disorders To purchase Ask your local bookseller or order from Indigo.ca or Amazon.ca Untitled-6 1 2018-05-30 9:47 AM Ronald Bohm, president of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, says a number of names come to mind for Ontario's future attorney general. MPP salaries have been frozen for many years and, while they are just as busy as members of Parliament, they make a lot less. Michael Bryant

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