‘Quintupling down’: Ford shows no sign of backing away from ‘like-minded’ judges comments
Global News
Ford, who has staunchly defended his position, showed no signs of backing down in the face of persistent pushback on Wednesday.
Premier Doug Ford is “quintupling down” on his pledge to hire “like-minded” judges to provincial courtrooms, amid growing concern in the legal community about the independence of Ontario’s judicial system.
The Ford government has faced weeks of questions and criticism after the attorney general added two former employees of the Premier’s Office – both of whom are currently registered lobbyists — to the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee.
Ford, who has staunchly defended his position, showed no signs of backing down in the face of persistent pushback on Wednesday.
“I’m proud of it,” Ford said during question period. “I’m proud to go out there and tell the people that are seeing violence in their homes, violence on the streets, violence in our subways that we’re gonna get judges to keep these criminals in jail.”
Ontario Liberal MPP Stephen Blais said there was a “clear conflict of interest” in having former political staff who are currently registered to lobby sit on the advisory panel.
Doug Judson with the Federation of Ontario Law Associations said Ford’s comments on judicial appointments “suggests there would be a hand on the scale” during court proceedings and a comparison to the selection process for United States Supreme Court judges.
“These appointments are deliberately partisan, they go through a deliberately partisan litmus test to get on the court and then suddenly we’re supposed to accept that there are no partisan strings attaching to them,” Judson said. “It’s almost a little bit too cute.”
The Federation of Ontario Law Associations occupies one of the 13 seats on the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee, alongside other judges, lawyers, and members of the community.
The cat first came to the attention of neighbours in the Burnaby building who said the it had been locked on a balcony, in the elements, for about three months.
Regina police disciplined an officer for repeatedly accessing personal data of six citizens without authorization 67 times throughout the course of three years.
The list was chosen based on the scale of the devastation, the number of Canadians affected and the financial toll, with wildfires taking the top spot.
Manitoba RCMP say a fisherman is missing after his side-by-side went through the ice.
The population boom recorded in Nova Scotia since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have come to an end.
New data suggests the majority of Canadians support efforts to expand oil and gas development, including expanding and building pipelines — but within that, their support differs.
Hamilton police say they have arrested 21 people in connection with hundreds of 'organized retail thefts' at multiple Shoppers Drug Mart locations across Ontario, Quebec and B.C.
In October, U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled trade talks with Canada after Ontario aired an anti-tariff ad featuring former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
Operations are set to resume Friday at the K3 potash mine in Esterhazy, Sask., after a fatal incident earlier this week.
Toronto is seeing a sharp 54.3 per cent decline in homicides and violent crimes this year, but police and a community leader warn the progress is fragile.
Data shared with Global News by the city shows Toronto is currently tied into eight separate private security contracts, predominantly for services relating to homelessness.
A Saskatoon woman has used naloxone kits multiple times to stop overdoses. Some experts say the kits are significantly helping decrease fatality in overdose cases.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told members of Congress this week that next year's joint review 'will depend on the successful resolution' of several issues.