Mr. Speaker, I rise to support this motion, and in particular to address my comments to the conduct of the Conservative government with regard to judicial appointments. I would like to give the House a bit of history.
In the last Parliament a subcommittee was set up under the justice committee to investigate the methodology used for judicial appointments, not Supreme Court of Canada appointments but all other federal court appointments. A motion was brought forward by the Bloc Québécois which was prompted by a comment by a federally appointed judge in the province of Quebec.
The judge made a statement saying that lawyers who were sovereignists should not be considered for appointment to a federal court bench. That, quite frankly, was scandalous, but it seems a pattern that the Conservative government is prepared to emulate.
As a result, fairly extensive investigations were carried out over a period of six to eight months. An interim report was issued and we were working on the final report when the election intervened.
Those investigations found that there was still an element of partisanship in the committees that screened judges for federal appointments. I have to say with no equivocation that there was no suggestion along the lines of the statement made by the judge in Quebec. The ideology was considered by those screening committees. It was found that partisanship was still intervening to some degree.
Debate has gone on in the House and around the country over the Conservative government's determination, and the Prime Minister's determination in particular, to politicize our courts. The Prime Minister is determined to make it a condition of appointment that one has to be “a strict constructionist” of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and of the Constitution and, and this is the most offensive part, that the candidate must support the initiatives of the government. That is as offensive as anything can be to the democratic process in this country.
We have pillars of democracy in Canada. The House is one of those pillars. Elected representatives are significant pillars, but so is an independent judiciary. It must be as pure as we can make it. The judiciary has to be absolutely independent.
The Prime Minister has made it clear that he is prepared to undermine that pillar. We are in a situation where we simply cannot tolerate that position. Every member in the House, including every member of the Conservative Party, should appreciate that. The government should alter its course in this regard.
We are at a very severe risk of politicizing the judiciary. It seems to be the clear intent of the government. There are some 13 screening committees across the country. As a result of the government's approach to appointments at the screening committees, we are also at a high risk of politicizing police officers and police associations across the country.
I am just being reminded and I apologize to the House for this, but I intend to share my time with the member for Nanaimo—Cowichan, who will be addressing the House in her usual eloquent fashion but on a different topic.
Going back to the politicization of police forces, what is being seen by the general public is the Conservative government lining up police agencies across the country on its side by appointing them not only to the screening committees but by making their vote the determining vote.
What used to happen before, if there was a tie, the judge who was on the committee would be the one casting the deciding vote. The government has taken that vote away from the judges only in the situation where there is a tie. Before, they had a vote on all occasions. Because of the structure where there are four government appointments and three that come from other sources, the law society, the bar association and the judiciary, the balance is now swayed in favour of the government appointments and the police officer representative is the one who has the balance.
I am going to conclude with these comments. The Prime Minister and the government should be ashamed of themselves for doing this because we cannot afford as a democracy to have our independent judiciary undermined.