The Eroding Power of Parliament

On Sunday March 4, 2007, Toronto Sun columnist Angelo Persichilli wrote an excellent article titled 'The Eroding Power of our Parliament'. This article outlines many issues and concerns regarding the growing power of unelected judges to write the laws of our land. This article can be found here: http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Persichilli_Angelo/2007/03/04/pf-3694565.html

In response to the article I sent the following email to Mr. Persichilli.

Dear Mr. Persichilli,

I read with great interest your article in the Sun concerning the creeping takeover of our legislative branch of government by the Judiciary. This is an issue that I have been concerned about for some time and I know that many others are as well - unfortunately it seems that nobody, certainly not our elected politicians, has the courage to state this publicly and call for something to be done.

There is a wonderful book on this issue called "Out of Order : Arrogance, Corruption, and Incompetence on the Bench" written by Max Boot. Mr. Boot was the Editorial Features Editor of the Wall Street Journal when he wrote the book in 1998. Although the book concentrates mostly on the United States, Mr. Boot does mention Canada more than once, on one occasion with respect to the 'Notwithstanding" clause.

In essence Boot is saying that virtually all important laws in the U.S. and Canada have for some time, and continue to be, written by appointed judges and that law making powers have been stripped from Congress and Parliament by judges. He also makes the point that the oft heard cry of 'Judicial Independence' is the rallying cry for those who want to keep the law making powers out of the hands of elected officials and permanently enshrined in the hands of judges.

This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it although it is nearly impossible to find in libraries or bookstores and difficult to order. I was able to order a copy via the internet from a used book store in Florida.

On a personal note, the unchallenged power of judges has become a great daily issue for me as I have been involved in a nasty custody and divorce battle for the past 4 years. It is really appalling how the judges interpret the law however they like in order to thwart all efforts by fathers to gain custody of their children or even to see their children or in fact to receive any kind of fair hearing.

I am an abused spouse - my wife repeatedly abused me verbally, psychologically, and physically. She threatened to kill me in front of a case worker from the Children's Aid Society. This is all documented in records on file with the court. ( I have never abused my wife in any way.) Yet when it was brought up in court the judge literally laughed in my face and said "Ha. ha. ha. You look like a pretty big guy. You still look pretty healthy to me. I don't think she meant it."

One only has to look at the judiciary record of the last two appointees to the Supreme Court by the former Liberal government to understand that the situation you write about is a major problem and one that all Canadians (and Americans) need to be severely concerned about.

Thank you for having the courage to state it publicly.