Mr. Speaker, there are a couple of points I would like to make by way of comments.
I am thinking in particular of one judgment I read recently, Delgamuukw, in which the justices referred not to legal precedents but to the literature from the law schools on which at least their judgment was based in part. This means there is a divergence from the tradition of consolidating the law, referring to the law and using the law as the basis on which to build judgments. I am concerned about that.
The second point I wish to raise comes out of today's Ottawa Citizen which has a headline: “Judge scolds greedy lawyers”. Mr. Justice Frank Iacobucci of the Supreme Court of Canada has said that many lawyers are rapidly losing sight of their obligations to the public and to the pursuit of justice.
I am wondering if the influence of these lawyers who have lost this sight is also being lost on the courts. Mr. Justice Iacobucci, to his credit, says that lawyers are not merchants of legal services but members of a calling dedicated to helping clients and improving society generally. But he is concerned that there is a clear tendency for a lawyer to be a hired gun, as he says, in the promotion of the client's cause rather than an active and constructive participant in the course of justice.
These two points cause me concern which I add to the debate. I would like to ask my hon. colleague if he sees any relationship between the justices, their influence by the law schools, by the lawyers of the community of which they are a part and if this is part of the reason that these justices are being given these pay raises that perhaps other frontline bureaucrats and government workers are not entitled to.