Harper vs Supreme Court Justice

[Brannigans Law]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/harpe...ment-1.1802251

OTTAWA -- The Prime Minister's Office exposed an unprecedented public spat with the chief justice of the Supreme Court on Thursday, issuing a statement suggesting Stephen Harper refused to accept a phone call from Beverley McLachlin about a judicial appointment.
The extraordinary statement came on the heels of a media report that said Conservative government members have become incensed with the top court after a series of stinging constitutional rebukes.
Among those government setbacks was a court ruling that Justice Marc Nadon, Harper's most recent pick for the top bench, was not qualified under the Supreme Court Act.


Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/harpe...#ixzz30cFJoigj

[Nehkara]

Wow. More of Stephen Harper acting like a 4-year-old.

[smoothpops]

This reminds of me of Harper's "activist Judges" quote. He has a precedent of personally attacking those that disagree with him.

[Zulu29]

Originally Posted by smoothpops

This reminds of me of Harper's "activist Judges" quote. He has a precedent of personally attacking those that disagree with him.

Which is fine, but he has a short memory because he's appointed the majority of current sitting judges. From auditor generals to elections Canada CEOs, from judges to parliamentary budget officers, it's funny how even the people he appoints disagree with him.

[Zulu29]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nado...bing-1.2630896

Canadian Bar association is weighing in. This is not going over well in legal/political circles. What is Harper thinking?

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Well, this doesn't look particularly good for the PM. I'm not really the Chief Justice's biggest fan (for reasons that would be super-boring to most posters here) but it's very unseemly for the PM to be in a public spat with her.

Harper has been politically quite shrewd for most of his time in office, but lately it seems like he's zigging when he should be zagging.

[Makarov]

Bump.

Unsurprisingly, this story is getting a lot more play outside of this forum.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by smoothpops

This reminds of me of Harper's "activist Judges" quote. He has a precedent of personally attacking those that disagree with him.

Seems to be a common theme in political discourse. i.e.:

Originally Posted by Nehkara

Wow. More of Stephen Harper acting like a 4-year-old.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Bump.

Unsurprisingly, this story is getting a lot more play outside of this forum.

Is it though? I wonder if this is the sort of story that people who pay close attention to the inner workings of our legal system might care about a little more than the average person. I'm not diminishing the outrageousness of Harper's allegations, just thinking that most political scandals don't begin with an outraged tweet from the Canadian Bar Association...

[Zulu29]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Is it though? I wonder if this is the sort of story that people who pay close attention to the inner workings of our legal system might care about a little more than the average person. I'm not diminishing the outrageousness of Harper's allegations, just thinking that most political scandals don't begin with an outraged tweet from the Canadian Bar Association...

I think there is a bit of numbness in the public to these things now. I mean, Harper really has gone out of his way to attack Canadian institutions so it's just more of the same. Some of my co-workers were pretty floored that he'd have the gall to call out an institution which cannot publicly defend itself.

[Tinordi]

But with the prime minister’s astonishing personal attack last week on the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Beverley McLachlin, the meltdown has reached Lindsay Lohanesque proportions. Nothing in the long catalogue of Stephen Harper’s bad-tempered outbursts has seemed quite so extravagantly reckless, if only because it was so calculated.

It is one thing to savage a political opponent or beat up on a distinguished civil servant. But to accuse the nation’s highest judge of professional misconduct — for that is what was insinuated, if not quite alleged, an ethical breach serious enough to warrant her resignation — is so ill-considered, so destructive of both the court’s position and his own, that it leaves one wondering whether he is temperamentally suited to the job.

http://o.canada.com/news/harpers-rec...adas-top-judge

Just to remind everyone, Andrew Coyne is about as conservative as a national opinion columnist comes.

[mariners_fever]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Just to remind everyone, Andrew Coyne is about as conservative as a national opinion columnist comes.

Except that he isn't....

He toes the centre as much as he can without going full Liberal, was no fan of the Reform Party, and has never really supported Harper. Not to mention he released an article scathing Harper's delivery of a speech 5 minutes after it ended while live-tweeting that he was locked out of the room and couldn't see it.

[Tinordi]

Ah yes, forgot what qualifies you as a conservative these days. It's how partisan you are not your belief in the core tenets of the conservative ideology.

[mariners_fever]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Ah yes, forgot what qualifies you as a conservative these days. It's how partisan you are not your belief in the core tenets of the conservative ideology.

I agree, but I wouldn't even say he is the most conservative national opinion columnists in his core tenets.

[Zarley]

I'd consider Coyne to be a level-headed centrist, he endorsed the Liberals last election if I recall correctly.

[mariners_fever]

Originally Posted by Zarley

I'd consider Coyne to be a level-headed centrist, he endorsed the Liberals last election if I recall correctly.

Couldn't have said it better myself. He toes the centre line and considers himself a 'red tory'.

[Flamenspiel]

^^Absolutely, he is an unaffiliated centrist and generally holds the government of the day accountable.

[edslunch]

Regardless of how conservative he is has consistently shown nothing but disgust for Harper's behaviour

[mariners_fever]

Originally Posted by edslunch

Regardless of how conservative he is has consistently shown nothing but disgust for Harper's behaviour

Which, to Tinordi's point, is more partisan than Tinordi claims him to be.

Does not mean he's right or wrong in the criticism or partisanship, but I wouldn't call him 'non-partisan'.

[Tinordi]

As a long time reader of Coyne it's pretty evident he's a conservative or right leaning pundit. He is definitely a fiscal conservative. Believes in the rule of law. Believes in incrementalism and respect to history and convention. He's safely a small 'c' conservative. He just isn't a Conservative partisan.

Oh well, enough about Coyne, more about how this is an unprecedented act by a Prime Minister who, I would agree with Coyne, is increasingly losing his tether.