Madam Chair, as I have stated this evening to a question by one of my colleagues from this side of the House, I am looking at that matter very carefully and understand its importance.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 43% of the vote.
Business of Supply May 14th, 2019
Madam Chair, as I have stated this evening to a question by one of my colleagues from this side of the House, I am looking at that matter very carefully and understand its importance.
Business of Supply May 14th, 2019
Madam Chair, I will take the matter under review. However, the intentions of the chief justice of Canada are quite honourable. When I was a professor of law at McGill, the Quebec Court of Appeal began to sit once a year in the moot court of the law faculty at McGill. It was an outstanding occasion for students to see the way the court operated. Both counsel and judges felt it was a positive experience for a legal outreach.
Business of Supply May 14th, 2019
Madam Chair, it is a right to donate to political parties in Canada and we have made appointments of people from all political parties. I appreciate that the “orange party” has never been great at math, and that certainly was clear this evening.
We have set up a rigorous appointment process. That process is working well. The quality of the appointments is outstanding. The diversity of the appointments is outstanding. The judicial appointment committee has worked very hard at making sure that the first stage is appropriate.
Business of Supply May 14th, 2019
Madam Chair, I dispute the figures that were used in that question. I read the same article and those are not the figures I recall.
As I have said, we set up a rigorous process for the appointment of judges through judicial appointment committees across Canada that evaluate candidates in a very transparent way on a number of different factors. It has led to outstanding appointments that have increased the diversity of the bench, and we are very proud of that process.
Business of Supply May 14th, 2019
Madam Chair, I would clarify that at the time I gave that answer to the hon. member, I was not the Minister of Justice. What I said about the article remains true.
Business of Supply May 14th, 2019
Madam Chair, it would be a pleasure. As the Prime Minister has stated, we are the party of the charter and we will defend individual rights at every stage.
With respect to the particular process that is now going on in Quebec, it is within the purview of the national assembly in Quebec to go through the legislative hearing stage. That is where it is at. Therefore, we do not yet know what the final parameters of the bill will be, if and when it passes into law. When that happens, we will make a decision at that stage with respect to how we will react. The Prime Minister has enunciated the principles in which we believe. As the Minister of Justice and as a Quebecker, I am watching that process carefully. I am following it.
We will be prepared to act when we have a final product, but for the time being it is in the hands of the national assembly. It is its jurisdiction. There is a robust debate going on within Quebec by Quebeckers on that very issue.
Business of Supply May 14th, 2019
Madam Chair, I will not comment on hypothetical questions of that nature. As I have said this evening a number of times and described, we put together a process in fulfillment of our third party obligations, which was rigorous and efficient, and we were complimented for it at the end of the case.
Business of Supply May 14th, 2019
Madam Chair, as I have stated in the House and this evening in the proceedings, public servants had a role in identifying whether there might be privilege attached to the documents.
However, the ultimate final decision on whether a document would be produced or whether and how it would be redacted and on what basis was given to the judge. That decision was delegated to the judge in a rather extraordinary but fundamentally indicative way in which we were complying with the court process.
Business of Supply May 14th, 2019
Madam Chair, I reject the premise of that question and the various conclusions that are drawn from it. As I have described a number of times this evening, the Department of Justice had a role in the proceedings to fulfill obligations on third party records applications. As I have described in greater detail this evening, there was a rigorous process put together for a wide scope of documents and a huge number of documents in a very short period of time, and the judge complimented us at the end of the case.
Business of Supply May 14th, 2019
Madam Chair, I have no comment on the actual statement itself.
As I have said a number of times this evening, and I think it is fundamentally true, in this particular case the institutions of our Canadian society have worked well. The RCMP did an investigation. The prosecution service with the RCMP decided to lay charges. They proceeded with the proceedings and ultimately stayed charges, and Vice-Admiral Norman had defence throughout.