The folks from The Line are too nice. The thin cv for our soon to be newest Supreme Court Justice is an embarrassment and the nomination has DEI fingerprints all over it. This is not a move for the better. The Supreme Court should be supplied with the cream of the crop, lawyers on the final leg of a brilliant career. The only diversity in this equation should be a broad range of legal experience, not filling imaginary quotas.
I actually feel sorry for Ms. O'Bonsawin. As The Line editors point out, she may well become a splendid Jurist and one we can all be proud of. But if I were her, I would get more satisfaction obtaining a seat on the Supreme Court through merit than because progressives wanted DEI boxes ticked off.
I seem to recall another indigenous female lawyer, with integrity and experience in government, what was her name again.....
Seriously, it's hard to imagine another government in Canadian history less likely to be concerned about appointing someone with a thin to non-existent CV.
Thank you for the comments on our latest Supreme Court justice. As a retired lawyer, I can speak up in a public forum.
As you say, her CV is think to the point of transparence. I have never known of anything so likely to bring the administration of justice into disrepute as this kind of nomination. This, at a time when many in the general public are losing faith in our institutions (and rightly so, I increasingly suspect).
Many years ago, Richard Nixon nominated Harrold Carswell to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was widely derided by the legal profession for his mediocrity. In his defense, Nixon said: "Well, mediocre people need to be represented too." (Carswell's nomination did not succeed.)
- The lovely bike story and the doufus shouting at Freeland were both quintessentially Albertan. This is a province filled with generous big-hearted people along with redneck loudmouths who put brawn before brains. Sometimes they are the same people on the same day.
- Promoting people based on their identity or to satisfy a special interest is risky and can backfire. Brenda Lucki was promoted over several other senior and well-thought of people who didn't fit the profile, and maybe didn't have the right relationship with certain Liberals. It puts the appointee in a tough spot and does a disservice to both the individual and the institution when they fail.
- The new SCC appointment can potentially be on the bench for 27 years and it's very disturbing to hear that she has been overturned by appeal courts on a basic Charter error. Administrative-oriented lawyers seem to get named to superior courts fairly often (politics...), and they can struggle with criminal law for several years while they gain experience (and ironically, they are tasked with some of the most difficult cases, like murder trials by jury).
- And please use quote marks when using 'world stage' in an article. It's an irritating term of art that has crept into the political lexicon, used by politicians to promote their own sense of self-import.
Thanks as always for your great work. The Line really is the best and keeps getting better.
I am a ferocious Alberta Separatist. I’ve watched the decades long battle that Ottawa and Central Canada wage on the Western oil producers. As mainland BC is leaf Licker central, they are excluded from the onslaught. Not so much northeastern BC, which is very much like AB and Sask. entrepreneurial and free spirited.
That said I thoroughly enjoy The Line. I disagree a great deal with a great deal of their articles…but the reporting is as factual as can be considering many of their sources and they always try to be impartial. I read the articles eagerly. So keep up the good work.
Interesting & insightful, thx. Wish you were covering Saskie politics, there’s some (well more than some) of the usual crazy stuff going on - $500 cheques sent out, limited COVID stats, accusing the Feds of trespassing.
If serving a political party or political consultant does not count, then I think Singh, with five years of law practice, counts as the "Thick CV" guy of our political choices, unless Rob Ford, of the large family business, wants to go federal.
To put it mildly, Trudeau, Scheer, and Poilievre between them don't have as thick a (non-political) CV as the new judge, in terms of years of professional-level work. (Trudeau's lifeguarding counts zero, Poilievre's time at Alberta Report, just months). But voters imagine them competent for the highest office.
Erin O'Toole served in the forces for many years, then "nearly a decade" of legal work. But his party fired him. So much for "CV". O'Toole's total was under 15 years before politics, I think with the other three, we could crack 20 years of total professional, non-political work experience, Singh would take us to 25. The judge has 27: as much as Trudeau, Singh, Poilievre, and O'Toole, all put together.
I would love it if someone would ask Dr. Lewis what her opinion is of the mandatory vaccine programs which eliminated Small Pox, and practically wiped out Polio. Also, her take on the fact that lack of mandatory vaccines have seen a resurgence of measles, and other childhood diseases.
It is beyond the power of the PM or the federal government to promise gas to Germany.
There is no way to get it to them without pipelines and there is no way to build a pipeline to the east coast given current environmental regulations and the opposition of Quebec.
Independence for Alberta is obviously no answer as we would have to raise a pretty big army to occupy the ROC and protect the pipeline.
Its at the point where I am embarrassed to be a Canadian. Andrew Coyne called Justin Trudeau a sanctimonious phony, but I think it applies to the country in general. "Canada is back" , "The world needs more Canada", is all performative BS. We talk big and then do nothing and hope that bigger actors will sort things out and be nice to us in the process. Why should they?
I would like to live in a country that had some intestinal fortitude, standing up to dictators, pursuing an independent foreign policy, supporting our allies, developing our economy and enriching all Canadians. That country exists only in imagination.
How can any rational person not see the increase in severe weather disturbances? It amazes me that people ignore what 99% of scientists agree on & struggle to find that one scientist to quote.
If 1000 mechanics were asked whether a car was safe to drive & 999 said it was dangerous - would it be wise to pack your family in for a road trip on one dissenting opinion?
The RCMP have taken a big hit here in Nova Scotia. The failures at the scene and the obfuscation afterward has left many to have no faith in the ability of the force to do their job. This is a top down problem which politicians have shaped by not appointing qualified people to the head of the force, lucki is just one of those commissioners that were more political than competent. She has to go.
The MCC report could have been written two months after the events by anyone with a brain. Instead it's a pork barrow commission milking the public purse and obfuscation the narrative by filling it with irrelevant issues.
"Is appointing an Indigenous jurist important in a very profound way? Of course! Are there institutional barriers that impede many Indigenous Canadians from having the typical c.v. of a Supreme Court judge? To be sure! But many others were closer. The name that your Line editors hear most often is U of T prof John Borrows. Yet he was ineligible because he doesn’t speak French fluently. He is bilingual (speaking Ojibway), but that’s not the right kind of Laurentian bilingualism for this government."
Hmm, I wonder if the Line editors would be saying that if Trudeau appointed an Indigenous justice who was bilingual in an Indigenous language and French, but didn't speak good English. Never mind that French has had a constitutional recognition in this country since before Confederation, or that millions of Canadians have French as a mother tongue, that apparently doesn't matter for a Supreme Court judge.
I've never understood why some Anglophones seem to expect Francophone Canadians to be the only ones expected to be bilingual, or expect Quebec to be the only province that supports its official language minority while French minorities in the rest of the country are expected to speak English.
It's funny how, in making space for Indigenous people at the highest levels of our institutions (which should obviously happen!), French is expected to be the language that gets shunted aside. Would we accept a Governor General that speaks good French and, say, good Cree or Michif, but not good English? Probably not, so why don't people have the same concerns about a lack of French?
I just filled out and sent in my CCP leadership ballot. I waited so long because I was hoping, desperately, someone would come to stand out (positively) in this race. Instead, for the first time ever, I was left with a contest where I ended up disliking ALL the candidates more than when the race began. Between that, and Jagmeet Singh's ongoing determination to play the title role in 'Mr Trudeau's Poodle', I figure Justin Trudeau's got the next election in the bag! Poor Canada...
The folks from The Line are too nice. The thin cv for our soon to be newest Supreme Court Justice is an embarrassment and the nomination has DEI fingerprints all over it. This is not a move for the better. The Supreme Court should be supplied with the cream of the crop, lawyers on the final leg of a brilliant career. The only diversity in this equation should be a broad range of legal experience, not filling imaginary quotas.
I actually feel sorry for Ms. O'Bonsawin. As The Line editors point out, she may well become a splendid Jurist and one we can all be proud of. But if I were her, I would get more satisfaction obtaining a seat on the Supreme Court through merit than because progressives wanted DEI boxes ticked off.
I seem to recall another indigenous female lawyer, with integrity and experience in government, what was her name again.....
Seriously, it's hard to imagine another government in Canadian history less likely to be concerned about appointing someone with a thin to non-existent CV.
Thank you for the comments on our latest Supreme Court justice. As a retired lawyer, I can speak up in a public forum.
As you say, her CV is think to the point of transparence. I have never known of anything so likely to bring the administration of justice into disrepute as this kind of nomination. This, at a time when many in the general public are losing faith in our institutions (and rightly so, I increasingly suspect).
Many years ago, Richard Nixon nominated Harrold Carswell to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was widely derided by the legal profession for his mediocrity. In his defense, Nixon said: "Well, mediocre people need to be represented too." (Carswell's nomination did not succeed.)
A couple of observations:
- The lovely bike story and the doufus shouting at Freeland were both quintessentially Albertan. This is a province filled with generous big-hearted people along with redneck loudmouths who put brawn before brains. Sometimes they are the same people on the same day.
- Promoting people based on their identity or to satisfy a special interest is risky and can backfire. Brenda Lucki was promoted over several other senior and well-thought of people who didn't fit the profile, and maybe didn't have the right relationship with certain Liberals. It puts the appointee in a tough spot and does a disservice to both the individual and the institution when they fail.
- The new SCC appointment can potentially be on the bench for 27 years and it's very disturbing to hear that she has been overturned by appeal courts on a basic Charter error. Administrative-oriented lawyers seem to get named to superior courts fairly often (politics...), and they can struggle with criminal law for several years while they gain experience (and ironically, they are tasked with some of the most difficult cases, like murder trials by jury).
- And please use quote marks when using 'world stage' in an article. It's an irritating term of art that has crept into the political lexicon, used by politicians to promote their own sense of self-import.
Thanks as always for your great work. The Line really is the best and keeps getting better.
I am a ferocious Alberta Separatist. I’ve watched the decades long battle that Ottawa and Central Canada wage on the Western oil producers. As mainland BC is leaf Licker central, they are excluded from the onslaught. Not so much northeastern BC, which is very much like AB and Sask. entrepreneurial and free spirited.
That said I thoroughly enjoy The Line. I disagree a great deal with a great deal of their articles…but the reporting is as factual as can be considering many of their sources and they always try to be impartial. I read the articles eagerly. So keep up the good work.
Interesting & insightful, thx. Wish you were covering Saskie politics, there’s some (well more than some) of the usual crazy stuff going on - $500 cheques sent out, limited COVID stats, accusing the Feds of trespassing.
“My predecessor wanted you to know Canada for its resources. I want you to know Canadians for our resourcefulness,” Justin Trudeau. Jan 2016.
Fail - can't deliver our resources and resourcefulness has been undermined since the only thing we export well are our best and brightest.
If serving a political party or political consultant does not count, then I think Singh, with five years of law practice, counts as the "Thick CV" guy of our political choices, unless Rob Ford, of the large family business, wants to go federal.
To put it mildly, Trudeau, Scheer, and Poilievre between them don't have as thick a (non-political) CV as the new judge, in terms of years of professional-level work. (Trudeau's lifeguarding counts zero, Poilievre's time at Alberta Report, just months). But voters imagine them competent for the highest office.
Erin O'Toole served in the forces for many years, then "nearly a decade" of legal work. But his party fired him. So much for "CV". O'Toole's total was under 15 years before politics, I think with the other three, we could crack 20 years of total professional, non-political work experience, Singh would take us to 25. The judge has 27: as much as Trudeau, Singh, Poilievre, and O'Toole, all put together.
I love the snark too...
"It brought warmth to her cold heart"
This one is rich.
I would love it if someone would ask Dr. Lewis what her opinion is of the mandatory vaccine programs which eliminated Small Pox, and practically wiped out Polio. Also, her take on the fact that lack of mandatory vaccines have seen a resurgence of measles, and other childhood diseases.
It is beyond the power of the PM or the federal government to promise gas to Germany.
There is no way to get it to them without pipelines and there is no way to build a pipeline to the east coast given current environmental regulations and the opposition of Quebec.
Independence for Alberta is obviously no answer as we would have to raise a pretty big army to occupy the ROC and protect the pipeline.
Its at the point where I am embarrassed to be a Canadian. Andrew Coyne called Justin Trudeau a sanctimonious phony, but I think it applies to the country in general. "Canada is back" , "The world needs more Canada", is all performative BS. We talk big and then do nothing and hope that bigger actors will sort things out and be nice to us in the process. Why should they?
I would like to live in a country that had some intestinal fortitude, standing up to dictators, pursuing an independent foreign policy, supporting our allies, developing our economy and enriching all Canadians. That country exists only in imagination.
How can any rational person not see the increase in severe weather disturbances? It amazes me that people ignore what 99% of scientists agree on & struggle to find that one scientist to quote.
If 1000 mechanics were asked whether a car was safe to drive & 999 said it was dangerous - would it be wise to pack your family in for a road trip on one dissenting opinion?
The RCMP have taken a big hit here in Nova Scotia. The failures at the scene and the obfuscation afterward has left many to have no faith in the ability of the force to do their job. This is a top down problem which politicians have shaped by not appointing qualified people to the head of the force, lucki is just one of those commissioners that were more political than competent. She has to go.
The MCC report could have been written two months after the events by anyone with a brain. Instead it's a pork barrow commission milking the public purse and obfuscation the narrative by filling it with irrelevant issues.
"Is appointing an Indigenous jurist important in a very profound way? Of course! Are there institutional barriers that impede many Indigenous Canadians from having the typical c.v. of a Supreme Court judge? To be sure! But many others were closer. The name that your Line editors hear most often is U of T prof John Borrows. Yet he was ineligible because he doesn’t speak French fluently. He is bilingual (speaking Ojibway), but that’s not the right kind of Laurentian bilingualism for this government."
Hmm, I wonder if the Line editors would be saying that if Trudeau appointed an Indigenous justice who was bilingual in an Indigenous language and French, but didn't speak good English. Never mind that French has had a constitutional recognition in this country since before Confederation, or that millions of Canadians have French as a mother tongue, that apparently doesn't matter for a Supreme Court judge.
I've never understood why some Anglophones seem to expect Francophone Canadians to be the only ones expected to be bilingual, or expect Quebec to be the only province that supports its official language minority while French minorities in the rest of the country are expected to speak English.
It's funny how, in making space for Indigenous people at the highest levels of our institutions (which should obviously happen!), French is expected to be the language that gets shunted aside. Would we accept a Governor General that speaks good French and, say, good Cree or Michif, but not good English? Probably not, so why don't people have the same concerns about a lack of French?
I just filled out and sent in my CCP leadership ballot. I waited so long because I was hoping, desperately, someone would come to stand out (positively) in this race. Instead, for the first time ever, I was left with a contest where I ended up disliking ALL the candidates more than when the race began. Between that, and Jagmeet Singh's ongoing determination to play the title role in 'Mr Trudeau's Poodle', I figure Justin Trudeau's got the next election in the bag! Poor Canada...