The Supreme Court repeatedly rules in favour of the Liberal political consensus, and it’s long past time that the process for selecting Supreme Court judges becomes more far more political and ideological.
Everybody has an ideology.
Those who claim they are ‘non-ideological’ also have an ideology, as choosing not to take sides on anything is itself taking a side.
Likewise, when there is a rampant consensus within one segment of society that is out of step with the rest of society, that consensus does not convey the absence of politics, but is merely the monolithic viewpoint within that narrow segment.
While this is getting renewed attention because of a recent Supreme Court ruling striking down the mandatory sex offender registry for about 10% of offenders, some could argue that the decision is somewhat nuanced and will give Parliamentarians the chance to craft a new law. In theory, such a decision should be left to Parliamentarians who could fine-tune and toughen up the law further.
The bigger issue is the trend.
Time and time again, the Supreme Court of Canada has struck down legislation passed during the Harper government era, a time when the government was responding to the many Canadians who felt our justice system had become far too weak.
The Supreme Court has now repeatedly eased sentences for criminals, and even ruled that mandatory life sentences for mass murderers – including the man who killed six people at a Mosque in Quebec City – was ‘cruel and unusual punishment.’
This is what angers people so much about the system.
The Supreme Court seemed to have no regard for the cruel and unusual punishment of those who are victimized by criminals. Those who lost their loved ones will never get a reprieve from their loss, so why should the criminals?
A false consensus
Clearly, the Liberal Party, the NDP, and the Supreme Court of Canada are all largely adhering to a specific viewpoint of criminal justice.
That viewpoint holds ‘restorative justice’ above all else, and focuses first and foremost on rehabilitation.
It extends all possible compassion to criminals, and seeks to craft a system where every criminal can be redeemed.
Unfortunately for Canadians, that kind of thinking is deeply at odds with human nature.
Some human beings are so fundamentally broken and dangerous that they will always pose a threat to others.
Just like a machine or tool can be faulty and unfixable, some people’s minds are unfixable.
Thus, a key purpose of the justice system is to keep those people away from others, either by locking them up permanently or – for the worst cases of mass killers – executing them.
That’s where common-sense comes in.
We understand almost instinctively that some people just need to be locked away in prison forever. No amount of time spent on rehabilitation or compassion can alter that reality.
Furthermore, we understand that real compassion requires ruthlessness towards those who are dangerous.
Remember, Myles Sanderson – who killed 11 people in a horrific stabbing spree in Saskatchewan – had over 50 prior criminal convictions. Obviously, he should have been kept in prison. If the system had been harsher towards him, then 11 innocent people would still be alive.
Compassion for the innocent and ruthlessness towards the guilty is what our system should strive for.
And that is why the Supreme Court must be politicized.
The current process where the false Liberal consensus is held up as some sort of national consensus is wrong, and must be challenged.
Conservatives should openly advocate for the appointment of tough on crime Supreme Court justices.
And the Liberals & NDP should also be free to campaign for the appointment of the kind of weak, soft-on-crime, pro-criminal justices they prefer.
Let’s have a real, open, and public political debate about the ideology of who gets to become a Supreme Court Justice in this country, and let the Canadian People decide.
Spencer Fernando
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