Ontario Premier Doug Ford, left, and Attorney General Doug Downey at a news conference in Mississauga, Ont., on April 30.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Ontario Attorney-General Doug Downey repeatedly defended Doug Ford’s remarks declaring judicial independence “a joke,” but clarified that the province is not considering the U.S.-style popular election of judges as the Premier mused.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday at a news conference to announce a new crime bill that includes changes to the way Ontario appoints judges, Mr. Downey said the Premier’s comments on Wednesday were born out of frustration with the justice system.
“I think the frustration that it comes from is real. He’s expressing what we’re hearing at the doors and what we’re hearing from people,” Mr. Downey said, adding that U.S.-style judicial elections were ”not something that we’re pursuing.”
In his self-described “rant” on Wednesday, the Premier questioned why unelected judges are empowered to enforce the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and overrule elected governments. He also criticized “bleeding heart” judges who grant bail too often to those accused of crimes.
The remarks have had opposition critics and some in the law profession comparing Mr. Ford’s views with the disdain for the rule of law shown by U.S. President Donald Trump. The comments also prompted an unusual joint statement from Ontario’s three chief justices on judicial independence.
Mr. Downey suggested the chief justices’ statement was aimed at the public, not Mr. Ford. The statement was sent after The Globe and Mail contacted the judges’ offices for comment on the Premier’s remarks.
“Their statement yesterday may have been targeted at the public just to reinforce what the bedrock of democracy is,” Mr. Downey said.
Both Mr. Ford and Mr. Downey have previously declared that they believe it is their right to appoint judges who agree with their views: The Premier has repeatedly said he wants “tough” and “like-minded” judges. Mr. Downey has said judges should share his values.
Mr. Ford is also the first Ontario Premier to invoke the constitution’s notwithstanding clause, which allows governments to exempt legislation from court challenges over the violation of many Charter rights.
On Monday, the government said its bill would bring in a “new pool-based recommendation process for judicial positions” that would speed up the hiring of new judges. It also said it would require its judicial advisory committee “to consider criteria set out by the Attorney-General when reviewing and evaluating judicial candidates.”
Late Thursday, the actual text of the bill was posted online. It requires the committee to forward a list of all applicants it deems “recommended” or “highly recommended” to the Attorney-General for any judicial vacancies.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government faced a round of criticism in legal circles for changes it made to the process of appointing judges in 2021.
Opponents said those amendments tainted a long-established process widely regarded as non-partisan ever since it was set up in the late 1980s. The government gave itself more control over who sits on the committee that screens potential judges and required the panel to provide the Attorney-General with a shortlist of six names to choose from, instead of two, for each vacancy.
Opposition critics also seized on revelations that the government had appointed two former aides to Mr. Ford, including one who acted as a gun lobbyist, to the committee.
A Globe and Mail investigation last year revealed that more than 70 per cent of the judges appointed under Mr. Ford had worked as prosecutors, a dramatic increase from the previous Liberal government that some called a concerning trend for the fairness of the justice system.
The Ford government said the bill it introduced on Thursday would also add child sex traffickers to the sex-offender registry, make it easier to obtain restraining orders in cases of intimate partner violence and tighten up the collection of forfeited bail money.
In addition, it pledged new prosecutor teams for bail hearings involving serious violent crimes, changes that would make it easier for police to track people wearing ankle bracelets and a review of the bail system.
In Question Period, Mr. Downey was left to defend Mr. Ford against repeated opposition questions about his comments. Liberal House Leader John Fraser accused the Premier of sounding like Mr. Trump and being “so hell-bent on bringing U.S.-style courts to our province.”
NDP Leader Marit Stiles suggested the Premier’s rant was a distraction from the flight of jobs south of the border in the face of U.S. tariffs.
She said she hoped the Ford government’s coming budget, which it announced on Thursday it would deliver May 15, would protect Ontario workers and strengthen the economy.