The Lawyers Weekly - April 23, 2010

Bellemare
Continued From Page 1

alleges that Charest was aware of the irregularities, allegations flatly denied by Charest.

In a television interview with Radio-Canada, Bellemare alleges that he appointed three judges under pressure from a Liberal fundraiser. The Court of Québec, whose judges are appointed by the government for life, is a court of first instance that has jurisdiction in civil, criminal and penal matters as well as in matters relating to youth. It also has jurisdiction over administrative matters or appeals, where this is provided for by law.

“These are troubling and
potentially dangerous allegations
that can cast doubt over the cred-
ibility of the justice system,” said
Pierre Trudel, a law professor at
the Université de Montréal.
“Where there may be certain
questions raised is when mem-
bers of the cabinet are reviewing
the recommendations. There is
no guarantee that the nomina-
tion was made only based on the
competence of the candi-
date—and therein lies the diffi-
culty. That is, the executive
branch has discretionary powers
that it can exercise, and some-
times doubts may be raised over
the criteria that was truly applied.”
The discretionary powers
conferred on the members of the
cabinet has grown since Charest
assumed power. Karim
Benyekhlef, the director of the
Centre de recherche en droit
public, Université de Montréal,
points out that Charest insti-
tuted a discreet but significant
change in the process. Before,
the justice minister submitted
only one candidate to members
of cabinet, who either approved
or rejected the recommendation.
At present, the justice minister
submits a shortlist of candidates,
which can place the Minister of
Justice in an uncomfortable
position before his colleagues,
said Benyekhlef.

All quotes except those of Rod-
erick Macdonald translated from
French by the author.
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