The truce did not last. If the Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice of the Court of Quebec had found common ground after their differences over the time that judges should spend hearing criminal cases, the bill that makes it a reality does not the Lucie Rondeau affair. It contains measures that were not part of the agreement, she denounces on Wednesday, and these compromise the independence of the courts.
Let us recall the origin of the conflict: Chief Justice Rondeau had reduced the number of days that the judges of her Court would spend presiding over trials, so as not to compromise the quality of the justice rendered, she said. Recognizing that this risked increasing the pile of pending cases, she demanded 41 more judges from the Quebec government. The Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, refused and blamed the magistrate for the delays that citizens in search of justice would have to undergo. Legal actions have been brought by the minister to overturn his decision.
Finally, they recently reached an agreement, after a mediation process: 14 more judges against a promise that judges would spend more days a year hearing criminal cases.
Quickly, Minister Jolin-Barrette tabled Bill 26 which concretizes the agreement. Except that there are also provisions to regulate the financing of the Conseil de la magistrature du Québec (CMQ) and to subject its expenditure to a vote of the National Assembly.
He did so a few days after it was revealed that the CMQ exceeded its annual budget by more than 40% last year, in particular to challenge new provisions of the Charter of the French language which prohibit the systematic requirement of bilingualism among judges. The Chief Justice wants to be able to require proficiency in English when it is time to hire a new judge “for reasons of court efficiency. »
However, these provisions on the financing of the CMQ “have never been the subject of discussions during the facilitation process”, deplores the chief judge – also president of the CMQ – in a press release released on Wednesday.
It thus asks the Minister of Justice “to give all the necessary thought” to these provisions “which place a significant limit on the financial capacity of the Conseil de la magistrature” to assume its functions, including respect for judicial ethics and the efficiency of the courts.
The Judicial Council must be able to work independently of the executive and legislative powers. This is why its budget was renewed without the government’s right of scrutiny, she notes.