Martin To Propose U.S.-Style Supreme Court Nominations

Even as a lowly law student I can see this is a horrible idea. The Supreme Court is (well it\'s supposed to be) the epitome of a non-biased, fair and open-minded decision making body. The Court is arguably post-1982 the most important and influential institution in Canadian society. And Martin wants to turn the appointment of its justices into a petty nitpicking interrogatory exercise? Supreme Court Justices must be able to make tough decisions which sometimes neccesitates they not side with the opinions of the majority. Groundbreaking legal decisions in matters like desegregation, aboriginal rights, (perhaps) gay marriage, etc, etc, would never have materialised if Justices were worried about what the public would have thought about their decision. Open-minded Justices will be weeded out in the selection phases, ensuring that the legal status quo will not be altered. The decisions of the Court must be just and based in law, not in the sometimes narrow viewpoints of the majority.

Now I msut also say, the Supreme Court appointment process in Canada must be reformed. As it stands now it is far too mysterious. But let\'s not go overboard and import a bad US idea.

I just don\'t understand this. One only has to look at how the Supreme Court judges in the U.S. decided the 2000 election (even though it was completely unconstitutional)to see that their system is fraught with problems.

This is akin to the Neo-Liberal attempts here in B.C. to privatize B.C. Hydro. Just look to California to see the results. We sold them electricity at the height of their brown/blackouts and made a bundle. The market price at the time was so artificial that we are still waiting to be paid.

And they want to put us in that situation???

It didn\'t work in California, New York or any other state that tried it. Why are we even thinking about it?

Stop using the U.S. way of doing things as the gold standard and instead look around for systems that work for the people\'s benefit.

A novel idea.

Ontario tried to privatize electricity production and transmission, and they back-tracked so quickly that it made my head spin.

We are now so deeply in debt that they show the debt retirement amount on each invoice, just to remind us how they screwed up.

Now we are going to be paying for it for a long, long time.

California was a great example of what NOT to do.



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"Arrogance in Politics is unacceptable"
Jim Callaghan
Minden, Ontario
705-286-1860
www.misterc.ca

But just like what happened here in Ontario, the people SCREAMED in opposition to privatization. The people of Canada must do the same, and more, to show the un-elected Martin that he`s out of line. He`d be out of line even if he were elected anyway! Let`s get on him! E-mail, write, protest, write letters to the editor, vote Canadian Action Party, whatever. I think we need someone influential enough to organize a national GENERAL STRIKE!

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Dave Ruston