Your daily dose of political theatre
OTTAWA.JAN.05.2010
Anonymous sources are at it again. Someone who’d rather live in the shadows told Global News reporter Laura Stone that the Prime Minister’s Office went to great lengths to bolster Marc Nadon’s eligibility for the Supreme Court. The PMO apparently suggested that Nadon should resign from the Federal Court and join the Quebec bar, a move that would provide an easier path to the most prestigious bench in the land.
Stone reports the source of the PMO’s idea:
The suggestion came after Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin says she contacted Justice Minister Peter MacKay last July 31 to flag the issue of nominating a federal court judge to fill a Quebec seat on the high court.
That would be the same controversial conversation that eventually set off a string of tense back-and-forth claims by McLachlin, MacKay and the PMO. The PM’s office said that talking to McLachlin would have been “inappropriate,” and Prime Minister Stephen Harper declined the opportunity to do so after MacKay’s conversation with the Chief Justice. Fascinating, though, that MacKay would act on McLachlin’s advice under the circumstances.
The Global story surely tees up another day of questions for NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, who’s pressed the government on this file all week.
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