Ontario Premier Doug Ford blasted judges in the province whom he perceives as being soft on crime, and floated ideas on Wednesday such as electing judges and offering them payouts to retire early.
Ford was at Peel Regional Police headquarters to announce measures on bail in an upcoming justice bill, though he said the most meaningful bail reform actions must come from the federal government.
The bill is set to include changes to the judicial appointments process, and when asked about that, Ford ranted about judges and justices of the peace who give people bail multiple times.
“The system is broken, and once these judges get into their position, they have this sense of entitlement,” Ford said.
“That’s what drives me crazy. We were democratically elected as a government. And I always say, the legislature is supreme and the people are supreme. When you get a mandate to do something, you can’t have judges constantly overruling the government.”
Ford then criticized a judge who recently ordered the province to pause the removal of some bike lanes in Toronto until a constitutional challenge is decided. Don’t judges have anything better to do than worry about bike lanes, Ford asked.
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“What right do they have (as) unelected, politically appointed judges determining our budgets,” he said.
“We get elected democratically. Last time I checked, there hasn’t been any judges elected. Maybe that’s the problem. We should do what the U.S. does. Let’s start electing our judges, holding them accountable. And that’s my rant for the day, because I’ve just had it.”
Attorney General Doug Downey then approached the press conference podium to add his own comments on the subject and joked that Ford’s remarks were actually restrained.
“You should see what he says in private,” Downey said.
Last year, Ford defended his government’s appointments of two former staffers to a committee that helps select provincial judges, saying he wants “like-minded people” in appointments, not Liberals or New Democrats.
On Wednesday, Ford dismissed the idea of judicial independence.
“You know something, that’s a joke as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
“There’s no judge appointed anywhere in this country, anywhere in the United States, anywhere in the world, that’s not a political appointment. Simple as that. You think these judges just come out of the blue?”
Ford also suggested he wants to offer buyouts to “bleeding heart” judges.
“I can’t wait until they retire,” he said. “Matter of fact, I’ll pay them to retire earlier. I’ll pay you out for two, three, four years. Just get out of the system, simple as that.”
As well, he suggested publicly highlighting the names of judges and justices of the peace who grant bail to an offender who then goes on to commit a crime.
“Why don’t we post, ‘This judge let Johnny out six times, and he just murdered someone,’” Ford said. “Who’s accountable? Does the judge call the family up and say, ‘I’m sorry I let this guy out’? Something has to give, I just can’t stress it enough.”
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