Getting ready for the blame

Vic Toews makes his first comments since taking over the federal justice portfolio - and unfortunately, it looks like the Cons' promise-breaking won't extend to the selection process for Canada's next Supreme Court justice:

Following the first cabinet meeting, Toews said he would like to hold public hearings on the qualifications of the next top-court judge. There is currently one vacancy...

But on Tuesday, Toews said public hearings would make the process more transparent and give parliamentarians the opportunity to "demonstrate their maturity.

"It falls on the shoulders of parliamentarians to demonstrate restraint and appropriate questioning. If that fails, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves."

Of course, if (and when) the questioning of the next justice goes off the rails, there will certainly be room to blame the questioner as well. But Toews himself should bear a heavier part of the responsibility.

After all, it's Toews who's apparently determined to push through with a policy change which relies on Parliament suddenly acquiring a degree of civility and maturity that's been sorely lacking for ages. And it seems all too likely that Canada's judiciary will be worse off for his insistence.