Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Law and Order: Conservative Judges Unit

Conservatives have long loved to whine about radical Liberal judges. If a Liberal government made a judicial appointment and the appointee had even walked past a television showing an episode of the West Wing once the howling over bias would begin.

That's why I'm glad to see that, now that they're in power, the Conservatives are righting those wrongs. And the wrong wasn't that some appointees might have been Liberal, or even liberal. The problem was they weren't conservative. Or, better yet, Conservative.
Do as I say...

A reader drew my attention today to Justice Minister Vic (is that what the Elections Act says?) Toews' appointment on Monday of one Dallas Miller
as a Judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta . Here's his justice department supplied bio:


Mr. Justice Dallas Miller received a Bachelor of Laws in 1984 from the University of Saskatchewan and a Bachelor of Arts (History) in 1992 from Athabasca University ( Alberta). He was admitted to the Bar of Alberta in 1985 and practised with Gordon, Smith & Company in Medicine Hat (1985-1993) before opening his own firm (1993-2006). Mr. Justice Miller’s practice expertise is in the areas of civil litigation, real estate law, wills and estates law and mediation. He has acted as a Member of the Alberta Provincial Court Nominating Committee (2004-2006), as Judicial District Representative for Medicine Hat for the Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association, and as Chair of the Board of Directors of International Justice Mission.


Sounds like a swell guy. But there's a few items that the government biography writers overlooked (space restrictions, I'm sure). Such as:



Still, you also have to have the creds. Here's his:



Luckily, there's more.






  • He has intervened in many fun cases too, I'll leave it to others to read through those decisions. Fun stuff.

So, all in all a really swell guy, just the sort we need on the bench. Fair and Balanced (TM).
I guess this is Stephen's way of saying to a certain part of his political base, as he gears up for the election he doesn't want until 2009 "Sorry I screwed you on that whole SSM vote sham thing guys. Here's a judicial appointment. Still love me?"

As I said, I guess it pays to have friends in high places. The list is growing:


  • Dallas Miller, his Alberta campaign co-chair, gets a judgeship
  • Michael Fortier, his national campaign co-chair, gets appointed to Senate AND a cabinet post
  • John Reynolds, his other national campaign co-chair and now a non-lawyer advisor (not lobbyist!) with a law firm, gets appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada

Someone might want to go over the rest of the list if they have time and see how all the other co-chair are faring under Canada's New Government. And don't forget Gwyn Morgan too.

Anyway, what was that Mulroney quote again?

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7 comments:

Monkey Loves to Fight said...

I think judges should be appointed based on qualifications not their political leanings. Considering how strong this guys political leanings are, I say this as blatant hypocricy. If the Liberals appointed a party hack to the bench, the Conservatives would be outraged. Now true all parties do have some political patronage appointments, but the Conservatives who promised to end it have been as bad if not worse than the Liberals.

Anonymous said...

Strawman: "Conservatives have long loved to whine about radical Liberal judges."

Conservatives don't whine, that crap is exclusively for Liberals and NDP. Conservatives tend to be more masculine, more stoic than socialists . It's the perpetually outraged/offended Liberals and NDP who whine, whine, whine.

I didn't need to read past the first sentence of your post to ascertain the quality of the rest of it. May I suggest you grow up and write like an adult?

Oxford County Liberals said...

Brave tough words from someone who posts under "anonymous".

Devin Maxwell said...

Jeff:

Another great post. What's good for the goose obviously is not good for the gander. Expected responses from the Conservative trollers as well. Keep it up.

Anonymous said...

Yikes! Guns, God and Gays...this guy's got the whole enchilada...including the Rick Santorum coiffe.

Best alert the Small-l Liberal Haplophic Atheist Marriage Destroyers Association of Canada to put this guy on the watch list. Clearly he needs to be monitored.

Jeff said...

So Bud, your plan is to stack the benches with ultra-conservative judges with loyal party ties? Thanks for the confirmation.

Anon, glass houses.

Thanks Devin. Actually, I was hoping for more trolls. Disappointing, really.

Glad you're on board ti-guy.

Omar Cruz said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.