CRISTIN SCHMITZ OTTAWA
The criminal lawyer who will
help create a shortlist of six
Supreme Court of Canada candi-
dates for the court’s two impending
Ontario vacancies says he will
speak out publicly if he can’t, in
good conscience, endorse some of
the names eventually put forward
to the prime minister by the Con-
servative-dominated “Supreme
Court Selection Panel.”
Windsor-Tecumseh NDP MP
Joe Comartin told The Lawyers
Weekly that he hopes, and expects,
that the ad hoc five-MP vetting
committee, on which he represents
the NDP, will collaborate across
party lines to choose by consensus
an unranked shortlist of three jur-
ists for each vacancy. Prime Minis-
ter Stephen Harper has pledged to
appoint the replacements for Jus-
tices Ian Binnie and Louise Char-
ron from that list.
“I do expect that it will be unani-
mous recommendations,” said
Comartin, who noted he doesn’t
anticipate that the three as-yet
unnamed Conservative MPs on the
selection panel will allow partisan-
ship, or their party’s “tough-on-
crime” political ideology, to trump
merit in their selection of jurists.
25 names. Eventually the depart-
ment will supply the selection panel
with 10 or 12 candidates that the
government deems “qualified.”
“My understanding at this point
is that they will not entertain any
names coming from the members
of [our] committee,” said Comar-
tin. “That was certainly the [case]
both in the Rothstein and Crom-
well [vetting process]. It was quite
clear that we were only to consider
the names that were put forward by
the Attorney [General].”
Comartin said he believes it
remains “doable” that if the selec-
tion panel is set up soon, it can have
its shortlist ready for the prime
minister by the end of August, thus
allowing the prime minister’s two
nominees to answer MPs’ ques-
tions before an ad hoc Parliament-
ary committee in September.
At press time the government
refused to elaborate on the process
it announced May 13. “Parliament
is scheduled to resume on June
2nd. Further details will be
announced in due course,” Department of Justice spokesperson
Christian Girouard told The Lawyers Weekly.
The Canadian Bar Association
See SCC Page 8
We’ve got the value your firm needs...
Owning a law firm is challenging, your payment processing shouldn’t be.
Terminal downtime and slow service can cost you time, money and clients.
Make the move to Moneris® today and get 180 Days Free Debit Transaction Fees!1
Move to Moneris today!
• Fast reliable payment processing
• 4-hour same-day express service2
• 24-7 personalized customer service
• Easy setup for all credit and debit cards
SAY
Call 1-877-597-7893 or visit
moneris.com/prof3
Offer ends August 31, 2011!
1 Certain terms and conditions apply. Offer is for free Interac debit transaction fees for 180 days to a maximum value of $250, whichever occurs first. The 180 days begins when your Moneris merchant account order is complete. For full details, visit moneris.com/prof3. Promotion runs from March 21, 2011 until August 31, 2011 and is available only to ne w merchants located in Canada that enter into Visa, MasterCard and debit
card processing agreement with Moneris and that rent terminal(s) from Moneris. Not valid with any other offer and subject to withdra wal at any time. Moneris reserves the right to determine qualified merchants and is under no obligation to approve a merchant for processing. 2Certain terms and conditions apply. The 4-hour express service option is $35 plus tax per visit within our coverage areas. Contact Moneris for details.
® Moneris, Moneris Solutions and the Moneris Solutions design are registered trademarks of Moneris Solutions Corporation.
