Plenty has already been written about the Cons' move to stack judicial advisory committees with Con partisans and right-wing ideologues. What's worth remembering in addition, though, is that one of the major legal controversies about the Cons' first year in power was their refusal to appoint enough judges to fill even the number of existing vacancies within Canada's courts, let alone assess the number of judicial positions actually needed. (That point earns a brief mention in CanWest's coverage of the current issue.)
At the time, there didn't seem to be any substantial reason for that omission other than general hostility toward the judiciary. But it makes a lot more sense if the Cons wanted to leave as many judicial posts as possible open for the fruits of their one-sided committees - which can only exacerbate the problem with the new committee composition.
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