Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m F e b r u A r y 2 0 1 5 9 vulne rable in our society, who may be the first to suffer." He reminds the Couillard government the Quebec Charter is a fundamental law that takes precedence over other laws, has quasi-constitutional status, and expressly says that the government is bound by it. The commission is especially wor- ried about adverse repercussions on the principle of equality, which prohibits direct, indirect, and systemic discrimina- tion. It also reminds the government that Quebec has signed on to the Inter- national Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which prohibits states adopting measures deemed to push people under a minimum standard of living in terms of health, education, work conditions, etc. As one can expect, reactions to the government's plans are diverse. Two sea- soned Montreal lawyers have voiced their divergent opinions in letters to the editor in the Montreal Gazette. In the right cor- ner, a veteran of legal practice, political activism, and media commenting, one of the province's most well-known law- yers, Peter Blaikie, (founder of the now defunct firm Heenan Blaikie) wrote: "We Quebecers live in LaLaLand, where wish- ful thinking masquerades as reality . . . where the most important civic duty is to get as many benefits as possible from other people's taxes." While "the use of the words 'aus- terity' and 'sacrifice' to describe the government's small, cautious steps to reverse irresponsible spending is both a grotesque use of the language and a disgraceful distortion of what is being done," the reality is that the public finances are in a perilous state given the size of the debt and considering the unsustainable pension obligations in the public sector, he says. "No further delay is possible," he concludes. In the left corner, Richard Goldman is a long-time advocate and supporter of the rights of refugees, tenants, social assistance beneficiaries, and other groups in need of legal assistance, also a univer- sity lecturer and a media commentator. He refutes that the province's fiscal situa- tion is in a dire situation, stating that its debt, at 54 per cent of GDP, is lower than that of the United States and "it would find itself among the less indebted half of rich countries." Austerity measures have real impact, he argues, and lots of people are hurting while those earning an average income of $151,000 have seen their tax rate go down 4.1 per cent since 2000. "The countries [in Europe] with the highest levels of public social spending fared the best in terms of economic growth" he wrote, citing economist Paul Krugman. "As Quebecers, we should continue to raise our voices and take to the streets to resist this senseless drive toward self- defeating austerity," he concludes. December polls showed a majority supports the cuts . . . while the premier's personal approval is going down. — PaSCaL eLIe pascalelie636@gmail.com I n Re: Section 98 of the Constitution Act 1867, a five-judge panel of the Quebec Court of Appeal has ruled "a judge of the federal courts who was a member of the Barreau du Québec prior to becoming a judge may be appointed to the Court of Appeal of Quebec or the Superior Court of Quebec," in accordance with s. 98 of the Constitution Act of 1867 which reads: "The Judges of the Courts of Quebec shall be selected from the Bar of that Province." Remember Federal Court of Appeal Justice Marc Nadon, who couldn't be appointed to the Supreme Court from the Federal Court? That Supreme Court of Canada decision was based on art. 6 of the Supreme Court Act: "At least three of the judges shall be appointed from among the judges of the Court of Appeal or of the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec or from among the advocates of that Province." It was the basis of a historical compromise reached in 1875 in order to create a "General Court of Appeal for Canada," said the SCC. That compromise ensured that Quebec's legal traditions and social values would be represented on the bench. This case arose after Federal Court of Appeal Justice Robert Mainville was appointed to the Quebec Court of Appeal last June. Rocco Galati, who also launched the initial complaints against Nadon's SCC appointment, was behind this case as well. He has vowed to appeal the Court of Appeal's Mainville ruling to the SCC. But wasn't s. 98 also a compromise to protect civil law? Well, the division of powers in ss. 92.13 and 92.14 (property and civil rights; administration of jus- tice) was already doing that, says the Court of Appeal. It says "there is an impor- tant fundamental distinction between, on the one hand, the historic compromise of 1867 that was meant to permit the civil law tradition to flourish in Quebec, and, on the other hand, that which permitted the eventual creation of a general court of appeal for Canada in 1875." Of course. Perhaps it is simply that a federal judge who would be surrounded by a cote- rie of Quebec colleagues is bound to become familiar with civil law and Quebec social values, if he is not already so, and therefore there is nothing to worry about . . . but how do you phrase that in a legal principle? — Pe \ At L A N t I C \ C e N t r A L \ W e s t regIoNAL WrAp-up Read the full Quebec Court of Appeal ruling in the Mainville case at tinyurl.com/mainville-QCA FeD CoUrT JUDGeS oK To SIT on QUeBeC CoUrTS

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