Bill C-30: An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 19, 2021 and other measures

Questions and Answers (Division 26)

2021-005792

When the Canadian Judicial Council recommends a judge’s removal to the Minister of Justice, the judge has a right to challenge the recommendation in the courts. During the time it takes for a court to hear and rule on such a challenge, a judge continues accruing pensionable service.
This may give rise to the perception that the judge has launched the challenge to accrue additional pensionable service. This in turn runs a risk of undermining public confidence in the judiciary.
The proposed amendment would address these concerns in a way that respects judicial independence and is fair to the judge concerned.

The amendment ensures that if a recommendation for removal is rejected, pensionable service will resume accruing as if it had never been interrupted.

Before changes to judicial compensation or benefits can be made, they must be considered by the Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission.
The Commission endorsed these changes in a report dated October 28, 2019, but it raised concerns suggesting that retroactive application would be unfair. In its response to the Commission’s report, dated February 28, 2020, the Government agreed to respect the Commission’s fairness concerns.
There is currently no recommendation for removal before me.

Including these pension accrual provisions in the BIA helps ensure their implementation at the earliest opportunity, which is important for two reasons.
First, it will help ensure that the cases of judges currently subject to conduct proceedings are captured by the provisions. There is currently one judicial conduct inquiry, which is expected to produce a recommendation on the judge’s removal in late fall at the earliest.
Second, these provisions were the subject of recommendations made by the Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission in October 2019 and formally accepted by the Government in February 2020. The Judges Act requires the Minister of Justice to see to it that Commission recommendations accepted by the Government are implemented within a reasonable time.
Reform of the judicial conduct process will be the subject of a separate bill, which will be introduced in the near future.