Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "GUEST POST":
In today's Globe and Mail, in the Focus Section, the entire article from yesterdays paper is reprinted, together with a photo of Justice Nadon that occupies almost half of the full page coverage.
In the original comment there was a concluding sentence that "This appointment smacks too much of politics and stacking the court to further Mr. Harper's fight for the rights of the right." This sentence was omitted from the Guest Post.
If one reads the Globe and Mail article there are numerous references to the politics behind the appointment. In a year-end interview with the media Mr. Harper repeated his long touted goal to transform criminal law so that it is no longer "centred on the welfare of the criminal." This tough on crime approach is a central and popular part of his agenda. Changes to the Criminal Code have put more people in federal prisons than ever before and this is behind his vision for the bench. Many judges have rebelled against the newly instituted mandatory minimum sentences that come from the Harper pro-right wing of his party.
Osgoode Hall law professor Jamie Cameron, says she has a rule not to comment publicly on the attributes of appointees - but she is breaking her rule this time. "What the appointment shows is the prime minister lacks respect for the Supreme Court as an institution. I feel very strongly that the orderly progression and evolution of the law requires a strong court - a court that's capable and willing to demonstrate leadership. I think that this appointment unquestionably weakens the court."
Our laws are written by the legislators, but they can and must be subject to interpretation by the judiciary, a judiciary that is knowledgeable and impartial.
Publish
Delete
Mark as spam
Moderate comments for this blog.
Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 4 January 2014 18:00
I don't understand why Judge Nadon hasn't withdrawn his name. The supreme Court is handicapped with 8 Judges & it could take years to be sorted out. Maybe he can't take his name out if Mr Harper has appointed him ?
ReplyDelete“A judiciary that is knowledgeable and impartial”…Who are they kidding? His appointment will just continue the impartiality that exists now.
ReplyDeleteOh, dear, Evelyn. Your local Anti-Nutter is going to deem the last few posts to be anti-Harper or even anti=law and order.
ReplyDelete19:49, impartiality is good, no?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThere is an article in today's New York Times headed up: "Two Decades of Change Have Boston Sparkling"
Mayor Thomas M. Menino "was an accidental mayor, elevated to office in 1993 when Mayor Raymond L. Flynn left for an ambassadorship. An old-school politician, Mr. Menino had little on his agenda beyond improving the neighborhoods."
Over the two decades of his tenure "the city's progress became intertwined with his. He was in incrementalist who, with prodding and cunning and by exercising total control, nonetheless took advantage of national trends like the back-to-city migration and helped propel Boston forward.
He leaves office on Monday having presided over and facilitated one of the most successful urban renaissance stories in modern American history."
It's too bad that not even five percent of Boston's accomplishments can be mirrored by Canada's largest city. There is no prodding, no cunning, no control, only a bad joke that has long since lost its humour. Toronto is now known around the world for the wrong reason.
22:12 I grant you that Boston is doing well. So is Chicago.
ReplyDeleteMayor Menino was in charge for more than 20 years. Toronto has never had a Mayor around long enough to accomplish much. I hope you were not comparing single terms with longevity when producing results.
22:12 -I have some friends living in Boston, and they've said several times that one of the Mayors greatest strengths is his accessibility. He was always out in the neighborhoods talking and listening to the residents. It was quite common for him to spend a great deal of his personal and professional time to be on the streets, subways or in a small shop talking to residents about just about everything. Sound familiar? Ford may have had and still have some personal issues, as has Mayor Menino, but no one can say Ford wasn’t accessible or spent residents money frivolously. Which is more than people can say about the majority of politicians out there.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete@ 22:12
The electorate have short memories. Toronto's messy rep will pass,
Since it's election year....
ReplyDeletewww.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/12/31/what-your-favorite-drink-says-about-your-politics-in-one-chart/
The recently elected Mayor of NY didn't run on his credential to leading an enormous city. He ran as a friend of the Clintons with a bi-sexual wife and muti-racial children. Can he do the job ? Who knows but the past Mayor was pretty darn good.
ReplyDelete9:34...
ReplyDeleteHow does a bi-sexual wife or multi-racial childred determine whether a person will be a good mayor?
Exactly, 12:41! But facts such as those fall on the negative side of a bigot's ledger.
ReplyDelete