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

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Minister’s Speech

May 2021

Good afternoon, Honourable Senators. I am joining you today from my office in Ottawa, on the traditional territory of the Algonquin people.

Thank you for the invitation to speak to these important amendments that are part of the Government’s implementation of Budget 2021. This Budget is about meeting the urgent needs of today and building for longer-term prosperity. Before I focus on the Divisions that are the focus of this Committee’s pre-study, I believe it is important to situate them within the overarching picture of the Government’s vision as reflected in Budget 2021. It is a Budget that is unprecedented in too many ways to describe here. Suffice to say, it is a Budget that is fundamentally grounded in reaffirming Canadians’ confidence in their strengths, their resilience, and their confidence in those aspects of society that have carried us through in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

First, we are intent on conquering COVID-19. This means buying vaccines and supporting provincial healthcare systems. It means providing Canadians and Canadian businesses with the support they need to get through these final waves, and to come roaring back when the economy fully reopens.

Second, Budget 2021 charts a course for punching our way out of the COVID recession. That means ensuring lost jobs are recovered as swiftly as possible, and that hard-hit businesses rebound quickly and are able to flourish.

Finally, our Government is intent on building a better, fairer, more prosperous, more innovative future.

It is against that backdrop that I would like to turn to Divisions 26 and 27 of Bill C-30. These Divisions represent the Government’s focus on two aspects of the justice system, which is a cornerstone of our society. Our Government is committed to maintaining and enhancing public confidence in the judiciary, and to promoting access to justice and the capacity of our superior courts.

Division 26 – Judicial Pension Accrual

Let me first turn to Division 26. The Judges Act charges the Canadian Judicial Council with investigating complaints against federally appointed judges, and, in cases of serious misconduct, with making recommendations to the Minister of Justice on whether the judge should be removed from office. If removal is recommended, the Minister may put the question to a vote in both Houses of Parliament, in accordance with subsection 99(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867. If both Houses vote in favour of removal, the Governor General can remove the judge from office.

A judge has a right to challenge a recommendation for their removal through the courts, and they currently continue to accrue pensionable service during the time it takes to resolve such challenges, which may go as far as the Supreme Court of Canada. This runs a risk of creating the perception that the judge launched the challenge with a view to benefiting financially by extending the time upon which their pension is calculated. This in turn risks undermining public confidence in Canada’s federally-appointed judiciary.

The goal of these amendments is to ensure that such a perception does not arise, or is minimized to the greatest extent possible. To that end, this Division amends the Judges Act to stop the accrual of a judge’s pensionable service on the day the Canadian Judicial Council recommends their removal to the Minister of Justice, before any legal challenge is launched.

It also provides for pensionable service to resume accruing as if it had never been interrupted if the recommendation for removal is ultimately rejected by a court on judicial review, by the Minister of Justice, or by one or both of the Houses of Parliament. Finally, it provides for a judge’s pension contributions to cease on the day their pensionable service stops accruing, and for the judge to make up the missing contributions if accrual resumes.

As you may know, any changes to judicial compensation must be considered by the Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission. These changes were considered and endorsed by the Commission in a report dated October 28, 2019. To respect concerns expressed by the Commission in its report about the fairness of making the amendments retroactive, the amendments will not apply to any recommendations for removal made before they come into force. However, I can confirm that there is currently no recommendation for removal before me.

Division 27 : New Judicial Positions

I now turn to Division 27. The amendments in this Division increase the number of judges to various courts across Canada by 13 judges. We recognize that an accessible justice system requires efficient court processes that help Canadians obtain timely resolutions to their legal disputes. That is why the government has committed to creating new judicial positions: to help reduce court delays and enhance access to justice across Canada’s superior courts.

The proposed amendments to the Judges Act, the Federal Courts Act, and the Tax Court of Canada Act allocate the 13 new judicial positions as follows: one new judge for the Federal Court of Appeal; five for the Ontario Superior Court of Justice; and two each for the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, and the Tax Court of Canada. Finally, a new associate chief justice position is proposed for the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Budget announcement and these amendments are the culmination of a process implemented several years ago by my Department. It aims to provide a standardized and predictable opportunity for courts to request additions to their judicial complements, in line with the federal Budget process and timelines. A call letter is sent out to all superior courts, and they are invited to indicate their need for additional judges to manage workload pressures. My officials work with court officials, as well as provincial and territorial government officials, to build a business case in support of their request.

The creation of a new judicial position represents a significant ongoing expenditure of public funds. The purpose of the business case is to provide as much empirical evidence as possible to support a fair and objective assessment of each court’s judicial resource requirements. The goal is to ensure that federal decision-makers – myself and my Cabinet colleagues – have comprehensive and up-to-date information upon which to base decisions regarding the allocation of limited public resources.

The 13 positions included in Division 27 are allocated among the courts that submitted complete business cases in support of their requests. I recognize that the number of judges any given court receives does not always reflect what it requested. In response I would simply note that it is for the Government as a whole to determine how to allocate funding for additional judicial resources in the Budget, in light of overall Government priorities. As we have seen this year more dramatically than ever, these Government decisions are neither easy nor straightforward when we are faced with challenges that affect so many facets of Canadians’ daily lives.

At the same time, these 13 additional judicial resources allow the Government to contribute to addressing delays for those courts that are experiencing them, and underscore that access to justice for Canadians is a top priority of the Government.

Conclusion

Honourable Senators, let me end where I began: Budget 2021 is about recognizing the need to overcome the challenges we have faced – and continue to face – in a time of so many unprecedented challenges. We need to draw on our reserves of determination on many fronts, and justice is no exception. I am pleased that the proposed amendments you have before you today reaffirm the Government’s commitment to enhancing public confidence in the justice system, and increasing the capacity of the superior courts to better help them serve the Canadians that rely on them.

I would be happy to respond to any questions you may have.

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