63 percent of Canadians are in favour of elected judges, while 30 percent oppose the idea according to a new Strategic Counsel poll. Count me in the 30, though that doesn't mean I like the current system. Judges watch legislators, but who watches the judges? I can't buy that they watch themselves.
This story is also interesting because the report immediate turns to a comparison with the United States and their tradition of electing low level judges. Why does the article not mention that appellate justices--the ones that really matter--in the United States, are not elected? And what of other countries in the world? The world is bigger than the United States.
Moreover, world scenarios demonstrate that giving power to legislators to appoint judges is not without problems either. Would the people of Zimbabwe be justified in opposing Robert Mugabe appointees? Yes. Is it out of the question that Canada's government could grow that large and invasive? No.
