Doug Ford suggests Ontario should do ‘what the U.S. does’ and elect judges

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has reignited his year-old comments about “like-minded” judges in a rant about the province’s judiciary, where he mused about U.S.-style elections for judges and offering buyouts to those on the bench he believes are “bleeding hearts.”

Ford’s comments came at a news conference in Mississauga, Ont., where the government was unveiling part of an upcoming justice bill which would force people to pay for their own ankle bracelets.

“The system’s broken — and once these judges get into their position, they have this sense of entitlement, that’s what drives me crazy,” he said on Wednesday.

“We were democratically elected as a government and I always say, the legislature is supreme, meaning the people are supreme. When you get a mandate to do something, you can’t have judges constantly overruling the government.”

Two laws passed by Ford during the recent legislature have recently been paused after Charter challenges.

Supervised drug injection sites ordered to close by a provincial law were granted leave to stay open temporarily, while work to remove bike lanes in Toronto under a separate law was also paused. Neither case has yet been decided, and the government has not lost them — but some actions under the laws have been temporarily paused.

On Wednesday, the premier specifically took aim at the judge who ordered his government to pause bike lane removal work until a decision over the law’s constitutionality could be made.

“We get elected, we move forward, and some judge — because of ideology — decides to put an injunction on bike lanes,” he said. “You’ve got to be kidding me; the system is broken.”

The premier also suggested he wanted to see U.S.-style elections for judges in Ontario.

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“We get elected democratically; last time I checked, there hasn’t been any judges elected,” Ford said. “Maybe that’s the problem. We should do what the U.S. does: let’s start electing our judges, holding them accountable. And that’s my rant for the day, because I’ve just had it.”

Attorney General Doug Downey, who followed Ford to the microphone, suggested the premier had been holding back with his comments.

“You should see what he says in private,” he said.

The premier’s critics were quick to pounce on his comments — accusing him of trying to politicize judicial appointments and of importing U.S.-style politics amidst a trade war with President Donald Trump.

“We are focused right now on an existential threat to our province, to our country, to our economy,” Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles.

“And I want to be very clear to everyone out there, we are not going to be the 51st state, and we are not going to import an American-style judicial system or courts into Ontario or into Canada. We will stand up against that, 100 per cent.”

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner also suggested Ford was taking a page from the United States.

“We do not need Trump-style politicization of the judiciary in Ontario,” he said. “We have a good court system, in Ontario, we do not need to import American-style politics into our judiciary.”

Wednesday’s rant from Ford harkened back to comments he made last spring, when he said he wanted to appoint “like-minded” judges who he suggested would be tough on crime. He used those phrases defending his government’s appointments of two former staffers to a committee that helps select provincial judges.

Ford repeated those comments for weeks — inside the legislature and at news conferences — even as they elicited a series of letters of complaint from organizations representing judges, lawyers and those involved with the court system.

On Wednesday, Ford dismissed the idea of judicial independence.

“You know something, that’s a joke as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

“There’s no judge appointed anywhere in this country, anywhere in the United States, anywhere in the world, that’s not a political appointment. Simple as that. You think these judges just come out of the blue?”

Ontario Liberal MPP Lucille Collard said Ontario’s judicial advisory committee was independent from government and a “cornerstone” of the province’s democracy.

“The fact that the government wants to give the (committee) criteria to consider on recommending a candidate is very concerning; this is again removing that judicial independence,” she said.

“A judge should not be dictated (about) how to make a decision based on political directives.”

Stiles said she was “proud” that judicial appointments were handled to be removed from political interference.

Ford also suggested he wants to offer buyouts to “bleeding heart” judges.

“I can’t wait until they retire,” he said. “Matter of fact, I’ll pay them to retire earlier. I’ll pay you out for two, three, four years. Just get out of the system, simple as that.”

— with files from The Canadian Press

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