QUESTION PERIOD — Privy Council Office
Cabinet Confidentiality
March 10, 2020
Honourable senators, last month, a stunning media report revealed that the Trudeau government’s so-called arm’s-length independent judicial appointment process included major input from a sitting judge who is the wife of then-Liberal cabinet minister Jim Carr. This Manitoba Queen’s Bench judge was neither a chief judge nor an administrative judge, yet she was in direct communication with the Justice Minister’s office to relay whom the judge wanted to be appointed to the QB court, who the judge didn’t want appointed to that court and who the judge didn’t want in leadership positions on that QB court. The kinds of communications this judge was having make it clear that she knew who was on the highly secretive judicial advisory committee’s approved list.
Senator Gold, did former Minister Jim Carr give his wife access to that confidential JAC list? What is the Trudeau government doing to investigate this potential breach of cabinet confidentiality?
Thank you for your question. It goes without saying, senator, that judicial independence must be protected as the process that is in place. Ensuring there are merit-based appointments that represent the diversity of Canada was the intent behind revamping the judicial advisory committees that have been part of the judicial appointment process for some decades now. To the best of my knowledge, these rules are being followed and there is no evidence that these rules are being broken.
