CBA Influence - Public Policy and Advocacy

The CBA’s International Initiatives Committee applauds the federal government’s July announcement of a new feminist international assistance policy.

Whether it was due to political unrest, international criticism or the EU’s threats, in July President Andrzej Duda vetoed two controversial bills – one that would have breached the Polish constitution by increasing the political influence on the council that recommends judicial appointments – thereby putting more power into the hands of the Justice Minister, who would have also been given the ability to promote trainee judges.

The CBA revisited the need for adequate funding for courts in a letter to the Justice Minister in early July which called for a mechanism to ensure ongoing funding for the Federal Court, Court Martial Appeal Court, Tax Court and Federal Court of Appeal.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin’s announcement in June that she will be retiring at the end of 2017 means the government will soon start the process to fill her seat on the Supreme Court. Once again, the CBA is asking the government make an appointment based on merit, ensuring that the Court reflects the full diversity of Canada’s regions, legal systems and population.

In April, the Council of Canadian Academies announced the appointment of its Expert Panel on Medical Assistance in Dying, to be chaired by former Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps.

Child labour has largely been eradicated in First-World countries yet people who congratulate themselves for not forcing their country’s children to work for pennies also benefit from that kind of labour elsewhere, by paying lower prices for consumer goods.

The CBA continues its work on understanding the scope and ramifications of the proposal to eliminate billed-basis accounting for income-tax is purposes contained in Budget 2017.

When the federal government passed its Medical Assistance in Dying Bill, it identified the monitoring of information about who is taking advantage of MAID as a “critical component” of the new regime. But the better part of a year later, says the CBA’s End-of-Life Working Group, there’s still no system in place to collect it.

“All Canadians should capitalize on the advantages of living in a country which has learned to speak in two great world languages. Such a country will be able to make full use of the skills and energy of all its citizens. Such a country will be more interesting, more stimulating and, in many ways, richer than it has ever been. Such a country will be much better equipped to play a useful role in the world of today and tomorrow.”

The CBA wrote to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould in March to make the case for resisting demands to eliminate preliminary inquiries. Read the blog from Ian Carter, vice-chair of the Criminal Justice Section on the topic, and we also prepared a Top 10 list of ways to eliminate court delays without axing prelims.