Hello,
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada says the allegations against former justice Russell Brown are lamentable, but Canadians should take heart in the fact there was a process at hand to deal with the situation.
At his annual news conference Tuesday, Richard Wagner said ethical complaints against judges are never acceptable.
“It’s unfortunate,” Chief Justice Wagner told journalists in his first detailed comments since Mr. Brown resigned Monday, after eight years on the Supreme Court. “One complaint is one too many. It should never happen, but that’s reality – it happens.
“What I am saying is we’re lucky in this country to have some institutions to take care of those things.
“I take some pride in the fact that in Canada, judges, federal judges and provincial judges are governed by ethical principles, and if they don’t follow [them], if they make an error, a mistake serious enough, there is a process, there is a way to deal with that.”
Full story here.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
OPPOSITION MPS CALL ON GOVERNMENT TO FIX BROKEN ACCESS SYSTEM - A chorus of opposition MPs and experts on civil liberties and government transparency are calling for an overhaul of the federal access to information regime, warning that without urgent changes to the system democracy is threatened. Story here.
FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER DIDN’T REGARD CSIS MEMO AS CALL TO ACTION - Former national security adviser David Morrison told MPs he read a July, 2021 CSIS memo flagging China’s targeting of a Conservative MP and his relatives, but said he didn’t brief Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because he did not regard the document as a call to action. Story here.
CERB HELPED MANY CANADIANS GET BETTER JOBS: STUDY - The Canada Emergency Response Benefit helped a significant number of Canadians get better jobs, mainly because it gave them the financial means to improve their skills through training programs, a new study has found. Story here.
ONTARIO HAS $22B IN EXCESS FUNDS COMING - Ontario’s budget watchdog says a look at the province’s spending plan shows there will be $22.6-billion in “excess funds” over the next few years. Story here.
SENATORS CRITICIZE OTTAWA FOR JAMMING CRIMINAL CODE, ELECTIONS LAW CHANGES IN BUDGET BILL - The Liberal government is facing renewed criticism from senators who say they are being asked once again to pass quickly a large budget bill that is full of non-economic measures. Story here.
META BEGINS BLOCKING NEWS FOR SOME CANADIANS - Meta has started blocking news for some Canadians on its Facebook and Instagram platforms in response to a Liberal government bill that could soon become law. Story here.
NDP TABLES PHARMACARE BILL - No longer content to wait for the Liberals to make good on their promise, the New Democrats tabled their own pharmacare legislation in the House of Commons Tuesday. Story here.
O’TOOLE DELIVERS FINAL SPEECH TO COMMONS - Too many MPs are falling into the pursuit of seeking self-worth on social media instead of serious discussion on the great issues facing the nation, former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole says. Story here.
ANDLAUER GROUP HAS REACHED DEAL TO BUY SENATORS - The sale of the Ottawa Senators is coming to a close. A group led by Toronto-based businessman Michael Andlauer has reached an agreement in principle to purchase the NHL team, the Senators announced Tuesday. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, June. 13, accessible here.
HOUSE COMMITTEES - RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme, with deputy commissioner Mark Flynn, have appeared at a meeting of the procedure and house affairs committee. In the evening, David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service will be appearing before a meeting of the same committee. Egidijus Meilūnas, vice-minister of Lithuania, was scheduled to appear at a meeting of the foreign affairs committee on the situation at the Russia-Ukraine border.
PREMIERS MEETING - Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders have announced they will be holding their summer meeting in Winnipeg July 10-12. Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson, the chair of the Council of the Federation organization of premiers and territorial leaders, will host the gathering.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in Ottawa, held private meetings, chaired the cabinet meeting and attended Question Period.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a news conference on a caucus bill on amending the inquiries act.
NDP Leader Jagmeet SIngh and NDP Health Critic Don Davies, at a news conference, announced a pharmacare act to advance the cause of pharmacare, and later attended Question Period.
No schedule released for other party leaders.
THE DECIBEL
On Tuesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Kimahli Powell - the CEO of Rainbow Railroad, a non-profit organization that helps at-risk LGBTQ people get to safety around the world- explains what it’s like for LGTBQ people in Uganda where President Yoweri Museveni signed one of the world’s harshest anti-homosexuality bills into law. It authorizes the death penalty in certain circumstances and a 20-year prison sentence for anyone who “promotes” or “normalizes” homosexuality. The Decibel is here.
PUBLIC OPINION
As the race to lead the Ontario Liberals kicks off, with Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie poised to enter on Wednesday, Abacus Data says that the Progressive Conservatives under Premier Doug Ford have a nine-point lead in support over the Liberals. Details here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on how Canada should prepare for the reality of a country on fire: “Canada has to move from an ad hoc, province-by-province response to one that is much better co-ordinated, and ready for decades of wildfires ahead. Start with a bolstered Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Established in 1982, the centre helps provinces share resources and information. What could be of greater benefit for wildfires and deluges such as flooding would be a Canadian version of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. In preparing for bigger wildfires more often, the focus on the wildland-urban interface is essential.”
Tom Cardoso (The Globe and Mail) on why an FOI rejection `radicalized’ this Globe and Mail reporter: “My experience with this FOI, and what I eventually learned about how this group of public servants had worked together to deny my legitimate requests for information, was a wakeup call. The experience radicalized me, and showed me how many officials administering this system actually view the law – and the principles of openness and transparency – they have pledged to uphold.”
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on Erin O’Toole leaving the House with a warning about division for Trudeau, Poilievre and his own party: “If Erin O’Toole was a more vitriolic man, his final speech in the House of Commons might have burned a few bridges. But the departing former Conservative leader chose to speak a lot about political vitriol and kept his rebukes polite. Even so, you didn’t have to read much into his words to see that he was not just fretting about the state of the Canadian political world he is leaving but admonishing some of the people sitting in the chamber around him – and not just Liberals across the aisle but MPs on his own side, including the leader who succeeded him, Pierre Poilievre.”
Tony Keller (The Globe and Mail) on whether Canada’s governments spend too much or too little: “The thing is, getting better public services generally involves spending more on public services. You tend to get what you pay for. And what you don’t pay for, you don’t get. If you’ve ever been to Vienna or Copenhagen, and marvelled at how everything just seems to work, take a look at the accompanying chart. It shows general government revenues – that’s all levels of government, not just federal – in the world’s richest countries. Europeans tend to have more extensive social services, and the social payoffs they provide, because their taxes – which pay for everything from poverty reduction to public transit – are higher.”
André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on how, In our politics and our health care, the price of dithering in Canada is structural decay: “Had the upkeep been done over the years, the Prime Minister’s official residence would be fine, or at least livable. The same is true of Canada’s health system. It’s the constant putting-off of necessary fixes – driven by fear of public backlash – that has made the situation untenable and urgent. Essentially, politicians have done nothing but fiddle around the edges for 60-plus years because they worry that there is no public consensus on how to implement large-scale reform. (The popular rhetoric that any change will result in a “U.S.-style” system certainly doesn’t help.) So we do nothing. Now, the rebuilding has become urgent.”
Karen Eltis (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on Canada’s courts offering new hope for Canadians defamed online: “Long before the arrival of the digital age and the perils of misinformation it has wrought, Mark Twain is reputed to have said that a lie can make its way halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its boots on. And today, a hard-earned, solid reputation can be effectively and irreparably dismantled overnight on the internet – and what’s more, the quest for legal remedies for such devastating reputational assaults has exasperatingly borne little fruit beyond the brick-and-mortar world.”
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Ian Bailey