HARPER BRUSHES OFF JUDICIAL CRITICS ON APPOINTMENTS

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismissed the warning shot
fired by Canada's judiciary over the Conservatives' changes to the
way judges are appointed, insisting his government won't leave the
vetting of judges' qualifications to "a private club of judges and lawyers."

In an unusual war of words between the Prime Minister and Canada's
judges, Mr. Harper batted back charges that the independence of the
judiciary is at risk, asserting the government has the power to
appoint judges, and suggesting that the judges want to exclude others.

"Under our constitutional system the naming of judges is the
responsibility of the elected executive arm of government," he said
in the House of Commons yesterday.

"This government has established an independent consultative process
that includes, in fact, a broader representation of voices than ever
before. We do not want the judicial appointments process to become a
private club of judges and lawyers. That is why we included voices as
diverse as victims and the police."

On Tuesday, the body that represents Canada's federally appointed
judges, the Canadian Judicial Council, expressed concern that the
advisory committees that vet applicants for the bench are no longer
independent because members selected by Ottawa now have a majority of votes.

The committees, created in 1988 and designed to take partisan
politics out of judicial appointments, vet lawyers to decide if they
will be recommended as judges on Canada's superior courts. The
government appoints judges from the lists provided by the committees.

The committees include members appointed by provinces, provincial law
societies, the Canadian Bar Association and judges. But last
November, Ottawa decided to name four members, instead of three --
the fourth is drawn from the ranks of police -- and to remove the
judge's vote, except in a tie.

"Because the majority of voting members are now appointed by the
[Justice] Minister, the advisory committees may neither be, nor seen
to be, fully independent of the government. This puts in peril the
concept of an independent body that advises the government on who is
best qualified to be a judge," the council, headed by Supreme Court
Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, said in a statement.

"Judicial independence is not the private right of judges but the
foundation of judicial impartiality and a constitutional right of all
Canadians."

The council also hinted that judges might pull out of the committees
if it feels merit is not the criteria for appointments. And it
asserted that judges have a duty to deliver decisions they feel are
right even if politically unpopular.

Mr. Harper said last week that his government will select judges that
reflect his government's law-and-order agenda -- sparking criticisms
that he was insisting judges must follow his ideological agenda.

The Canadian Judicial Council statement led Liberal Leader Stephane
Dion to charge that the government has heard a danger signal, and is
ignoring it. "A democratic country is in trouble when the judges warn
that the government is putting their independence in peril," he said
in the Commons.

The Globe and Mail reported last week that 16 of 33 of the non-police
members of 12 judicial advisory committees chosen by Ottawa are
Conservative partisans.

Several of the non-partisans are vocal critics of the judiciary who
argue that judges are too lax on crime or have overstepped the bounds
of law to make social policy.