Here's yet another reason to regret having Maurice Vellacott as my MP.


Saskatoon MP's comments draw swift reply from Supreme Court judge

Last Updated May 8 2006 08:56 AM CDT
CBC News

Saskatchewan MP Maurice Vellacott took a swipe at the Supreme Court on the weekend, prompting a swift response from the country's top judge.

Maurice Vellacott attributed comments to the country's top judge, but a spokesperson says she never said them.Vellacott stepped on judicial toes in an interview Saturday with Christina Lawand of CBC News in Ottawa.

"I don't think it is the role of the judge, whether left or right or conservative or whatever stripe [he] happens to be, to actually figure to play the position of God," the Tory MP for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin told Lawand.

Vellacott, a former pastor who claims a doctoral degree from Trinity International University in Chicago, then singled out Beverley McLachlin, the chief justice of Canada.

He claimed McLachlin "herself said actually when they step into this role that suddenly there's some kind of mystical power that comes over them, which everything that they've ever decreed is not to be questioned.

"They actually have the discernment and almost prophetic ability to plumb and know the mind of the public."

Supreme court judges usually ignore the barbs that periodically come their way. But Vellacott's comments were apparently too much for McLachlin. A spokesman for the chief justice "categorically denied" that she had ever said what Vellacott claimed.

"She has always said it is a judge's role to interpret and apply the law … but those choices are always made in accordance with legal precedents and with the laws laid down by parliament and the legislatures," the judicial spokesman said.

After that rebuff, it didn't take Vellacott long to issue a statement of his own.

"As I'm not a member of the cabinet, I obviously do not speak for the government of Canada on these matters," he said in a statement Sunday.

"For my part, I appreciate the important role judges play in our justice system in ruling on the written laws and constitution of Canada. I respect the independence of our judges as a fundamental aspect of a free and democratic society."

Vellacott has been in the news lately over a controversial appointment to a parliamentary committee.

FROM MAY 2, 2006: Aboriginal groups upset about Vellacott appointment

Aboriginal groups have expressed disappointment after Vellacott was made chair of the aboriginal affairs and northern development committee. He upset some aboriginal people by supporting two Saskatoon police officers who were convicted of mistreating an aboriginal man by taking him to the edge of the city in cold weather.

FROM JULY 5, 2004: MP wants Munson and Hatchen case reopened