They all say it was boring. There were no unexpected heart attacks, no secrets revealed, and no one was voted off the island. Snore.
For when Mr. Justice Marshall Rothstein, Supreme Court judge-designate, was propped up in front of cameras and politicians alike last Monday, the general media reaction was that it was not even really worth air time.
Indeed, Canada now has a sense of who Rothstein is as a man. And, likely, many of us now happily imagine him in an adorable railway employee uniform, delivering pre-packaged sandwiches as the train chugged across the country.
But was it even news? He didn’t even admit to having fathered his dog’s sister’s owner’s psychiatrist’s illegitimate baby. Now, that would have meant ratings.
What Canada’s somnolent response failed to recognize was that the key issue was not what Rothstein said and did, but that we were able to see him say and do it at all.
The whole idea behind appointed justices is that their positions are necessarily apolitical. To properly interpret the laws of our country, the men and women with the robes and gavels are called upon to preside over individual cases with a mind tuned to reason and not to personal agendas. Consequently, we are expected to trust the prime minister, for whom the majority of us have voted (usually), to take off his party blinders in all of the wisdom for which we elected him, and put a thoroughly objective candidate on the bench.
But we do not trust Prime Minister Harper. Or at least, that is what his desperate attempts at transparency suggest. When the man who runs the country feels he must play his cards face up on the table by televising judicial designates and possibly even electing senators, it betrays his confidence as a leader, and our own jaded nature.
Indeed, this transparency is also a result of the Gomery rhetoric. But when the backlash from the Liberal scandal begins to interfere with the philosophy on which Canada is founded, worry should ensue.
While the Conservatives will claim that the publicizing of their political duties demonstrates the courage and confidence of the party, and hopefully will cleanse Parliament Hill of its recent sins, the truly courageous thing to do would be to adhere to the traditions of our country. By upholding the principles behind appointed senators and Supreme Court justices, Harper would instead show that Canada’s reins in his hands are as secure as they ever have been: that he is willing and capable of thinking in the nation’s best interests, and that no one should expect otherwise.
But to ensure that Canada grows, and remains recognizable, under Harper’s government, the Conservatives must insist that further deviations from governmental practice are minimal. By reneging on the proposed election of senators in the upcoming months, the prime minister would restore the trust he feels he lacks by relying on core Canadian traditions.
