Mr. Speaker, we welcome the announcement of the forthcoming promotion of Madam Justice Beverley McLachlin as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She will be the first woman to be appointed to the chief justiceship.
Her early teaching work in the law faculty of the University of British Columbia was followed by service on the County Court of Vancouver and the Court of Appeal of British Columbia. She had been Chief Justice of the B.C. Supreme Court prior to her present appointment on the Supreme Court of Canada.
We salute Madam Justice McLachlin's demonstrated qualities of classical legal analysis, coupled with a recognition of the practical possibilities and also the limitations of judicial activism in social and economic policies.
As a trained philosopher as well as a jurist, Madam Justice McLachlin offers great promise for her new role of leadership of the Supreme Court of Canada.