The Supreme Court of Canada has been under fire recently by the Prime Minister’s Office for alleged principles of conduct violations. By “violations”, we mean that Harper is accusing Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin of attempting to directly contact him on matters of the Supreme Court. Not cool bro.
There’s also some juicy gossip going around Ottawa (mostly CPC headquarters) saying that the Chief Justice was lobbying against the Harper Government’s attempted appointment of Marc Nadon way before the matter was brought to the court. Scandalous! Rumor has it that the Chief Justice said that the Harper government “caused more damage to the court as an institution than any government in Canadian history.” We’ve never had a military dictator totally destroy the courts, so that isn’t a huge accomplishment, but it is still a strong statement.
The Supreme Court has rejected a string of Conservative Party proposals in recent weeks, meaning they must be in a Mean Girls style feud where the Supreme Court is the guy with the candy grams and Harper is Gretchen Weiners. Stephen Harper’s large parliamentary caucus is getting restless, since they’re used to getting lots of candy.
It makes sense. While talking about the court’s verdict on prostitution laws, one unnamed MP notes “The left will celebrate this as a triumph — what they couldn’t achieve politically, they have achieved through decades of court appointees.” The left clearly has a chokehold on the court. With 5 out of 9 justices being appointed by Stephen Harper have their lifetime appointments set to keep them on the bench well into the 2030s, another Chretien appointment retiring at the end of this year, and a vacancy waiting to be filled, the Supreme Court oozes with anti-Conservative sentiment. The Harper government is notorious for not caring about the math of majorities (see: proportion of the popular vote), it totally makes sense that five, six or even seven justices on the Supreme Court bench is not nearly enough to stop the left’s chokehold. That’s because it’s not that the left has control of the Supreme Court, it’s that courts are somehow designed to help the left. Clearly.
Battle of the Titans
Godzilla-Movies
Today, the battle of Harper v Supreme Court grew more complex; Stephen Harper reportedly suspected that Marc Nadon might run into trouble with the Supreme Court before his appointment, and suggested that he sign up with the Quebec Bar in order to increase his chances of being declared eligible to be the next Harper appointee to sit on the bench until forever.
Nadon seems to have disagreed with Harper’s suggestion. The Prime Minister said that the Supreme Court has made federal judges “second-class judges” which undoubtedly make Nadon very sad. I’m sure he’s crying from his nice house and comfy federal bench. Either way, when national headlines say that the Prime Minister is fighting the Supreme Court in a Godzilla vs Rodan style showdown, you know something is wrong.