Judicial Bias

I was planning a post different from what I am writing today because of a set of circumstances that occurred yesterday, when a friend on Facebook pointed out an article in the Globe about a Hamilton judge who went to court wearing a Trump cap that read, "Make America Great Again."

Given my own encounter with judicial bias last June involving Justice Antonio Skarica, which I recounted in this blog, I decided to write to the reporters listed on the story to tell them about my experience with Toni Skarica and his t-shirt. I was then called by reporter Sean Fine, who briefly interviewed me on the phone.

Here are some excerpts from the article: The first provides the context:

On Wednesday morning, after the U.S. presidential election, Judge Bernd Zabel of the Ontario Court of Justice in Hamilton wore Mr. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign ball cap when he entered his courtroom, a source who was in court told The Globe and Mail. He said the cap signified that it was an historic occasion. He removed the cap and put it on the bench in front of him, the source said, and returned with it after the court’s morning break.

Citing The Globe’s report, law professor Gus Van Harten complained in writing to the Ontario Judicial Council on Friday. He said Judge Zabel’s “childish” conduct cast doubt not only on the fairness of his courtroom but that of the entire Ontario Court of Justice, whose judges sit throughout the province. And he said the judge should at the very least be made to withdraw from cases involving minority groups disparaged by president-elect Trump during the campaign.

Van Harten's disgust and objections mirrored my own when I encountered Skarica:

The case of Ontario Superior Court Justice Antonio Skarica – who wore a Trump “Make America Great Again” T-shirt while out shopping one day last spring – provides an indication of how seriously judicial authorities take such complaints.

Lorne Warwick, a retired teacher from Dundas, Ont., complained to the Canadian Judicial Council, the disciplinary body for federally appointed judges. The CJC referred the complaint to the chair of its conduct committee, Nova Scotia Chief Justice Michael MacDonald. He spoke to Justice Skarica, who told him he had not intended to make a political statement; he had received the T-shirt from his brother and considered it an item of memorabilia. He promised not to wear the shirt in public again, according to a letter from the CJC that Mr. Warwick posted on a blog.

A spokeswoman for the CJC confirmed the authenticity of that letter. “I believe it shows we took the matter seriously, seeking comments from the judge, and carefully considering the matter following Chief Justice MacDonald’s direction,” Johanna Laporte said in an e-mail.

Mr. Warwick said in an interview that he was “astounded” when he and his wife saw Justice Skarica in the Trump T-shirt. “I felt his judgment was very bad.” He said other shoppers who recognized Justice Skarica looked at him “with disgust.” But at least the judge had to account for his “strange behaviour,” he said in his blog post.

I am one who leads a low-key existence and never seek to extol myself or 'build my brand,' as the young are wont to say. However, I write this only as a way to encourage people to keep fighting the good fight, a personal philosophy that I found deeply shaken after the results of Tuesday's presidential election.

I now feel my fighting spirit starting to return.

UPDATED: More From The Conservative Braintrust

Well, we know what an abomination Kellie Leitch is as a Conservative leadership hopeful, but what about Brad Trost?

The pool, it would seem, is very, very shallow:



UPDATE: Note to Brad Trost: A B.Sc. in Geophysics does not make you a geophysicist.

And Two More Things

I hadn't fully appreciated, until the U.S. election results came in, how much we have in common with the ovine species:



H/t Carsten

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: George Carlin left us far too early:

This Woman Absolutely Disgusts Me

Read this story to see one of the reasons.

A Tough Decision?

On Today's Menu

Even though I will be riveted to the television tonight watching the U.S. election results, I have had more than enough American political coverage, having just returned from Cleveland, where politics seemed pretty much to be the only topic being covered by the media. So a return to Canadian politics is in order.

Saturday's Star had some strong opinions from its readers on Finance Minister Bill Morneau and his "let them eat cake" attitude toward those mired in precarious work. I think it is safe to say that his attitude is not shared 'by the masses'.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau thinks the precarious work situation is OK and he sees nothing wrong with a situation where worker protection has been so eroded that people are having difficulty supporting families, affording housing and food, to say nothing about saving up for retirement.

The Liberal government has shown itself only to be concerned with the middle class.

Almost nothing has been done for the homeless, seniors and those on the extreme margins.

Obviously the Liberals will do nothing for the working poor in precarious work ... the ones accessing food banks to stay alive.

I am severely disappointed in this party and its misguided focus. Its child-care program will only be affordable to a select group and not the working poor who will need it most.

I did not vote for Justin Trudeau and nothing about his performance so far has changed my mind.

M. Schooff, Orangeville, Ont.

Get used to multiple careers, our finance minister says. Instead of trying to fix the symptoms, perhaps the government should focus on fixing the cause.

The standard of living has been falling for about three decades, going back to the days of Reaganomics, where tax cuts for the wealthy were supposed to trickle down to everyone else.

Well, history has always proven that idea to be total nonsense. Instead of giving tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations, the government should be focusing on social responsibility and ensuring that those with money are sharing it with the country as a whole, instead of hoarding it.

Otherwise, we’ll see more and more precarious employment, job loss and poverty, which will cause more precarious employment, job loss and poverty. It’s a downward spiral that hurts the bulk of the population, while making more and more for the wealthy.

James Knott, Mississauga

It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when the finance minister says, this is as good as it’s going to get, get used to it. He even has a term for it: job churn.

I worry about our grand- and great-grandchildren and their future. They are told to get a good education in order to get good jobs.

All this does is make them over educated and over qualified for entry-level jobs with minimum wage and minimum hours.

Big multi-national companies have no loyalties to their employees, but want their employees to be loyal to the company. At the first sign of trouble, it’s fire or lay off hundreds.

How is the next generation going to cope when they don’t know if they’ll have a job next week, month or year? No job security, no benefits, no pension. Can they afford to buy a house or a car? Can they give their children the things they need, like a university education.

I don’t know what the government can do to bring good-paying jobs with benefits and job security back to Canada, but when the finance minister says get used to it, there is something wrong.

Allan Mantel, Victoria Harbour, Ont.

Hiatus

I'll be out of town for a few days. Blogging will resume next week.