May 26, 2014 - 2:26 PM
OTTAWA - The Canadian Press is always on the lookout for noteworthy or zesty exchanges on the floor of the House of Commons. On Monday, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair pressed Prime Minister Stephen Harper about a Globe and Mail report last week that revealed no fewer than four Federal Court judges had been proposed to fill a vacant spot on the Supreme Court bench.
Mulcair: Mr. Speaker, it has now been exposed that four of six candidates on the short list of Quebec nominees for the Supreme Court proposed by the Prime Minister were Federal Court judges. Conservatives rigged the process to make sure that at least one of the three final candidates would be from the Federal Court. Why?
Harper: Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, the reason Federal Court judges were considered in this appointment is that Federal Court judges had always been considered eligible for these appointments up to and including the process that chose Justice Wagner. Obviously, the Supreme Court has now ruled otherwise and as I said before, the government will respect that ruling and act accordingly.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014