Kenney complains about lack of judges; didn’t get judges appointed when he was in power

For immediate release
April 18, 2018

EDMONTON – Jason Kenney says he wants more federally-appointed judges for Alberta, but as a federal minister who allegedly signed off on appointing Alberta judges, he didn’t do his job.

The Globe and Mail interviewed multiple people who stated Jason Kenney, as Alberta’s “political” minister, personally signed off on Alberta’s court appointments.[1]

In 2014, then-Justice Minister Jonathan Denis said the backlog was a big problem. Alberta needed more than a dozen federally-appointed judges, but Kenney’s government colleagues did nothing to appoint them. Denis stated, “we’re still waiting. I recognize the budget is tight, but in Alberta we have found money for the provincial court.”[2]

A Calgary lawyer stated in the Calgary Herald, “appointments and related funding have largely been nonexistent…. the Court is now facing a crisis arising from a lack of judicial appointments and related funding despite ongoing requests for an increase to the judicial complement of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench.”[3]

The Minister of Justice is constantly advocating for more judicial appointments to be filled by the federal government. Alberta has created ten positions in Superior Court to help clear the backlog in the courts left by the previous government.[4]

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[1] Globe and Mail. July 24 2015. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/stephen-harpers-courts-how-the-judiciary-has-been-remade/article25661306/

[2] Edmonton Journal. December 22 2014. http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/lack-of-queens-bench-judges-slows-courts-to-crawl

[3] Calgary Herald. November 28 2014. http://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/mcgrath-justice-delayed-is-justice-denied

[4] Government of Alberta. October 20 2016. https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=43645E14F825D-A473-6305-F7FF7A2122B3D8BD