The B.C. government has won the latest battle of a seemingly interminable conflict over Provincial Court judges’ salaries in what has become a decade-long Pyrrhic war damaging both institutions.
A process to depoliticize the setting of judicial remuneration has engendered only nasty legal arguments and court showdowns doing little to instill confidence in either politicians or the bench.
The judges have put their valued independence at risk by banding together like a ditch diggers’ union, while the government is rolling the dice with disinterested justice by regularly rejecting the recommendations of an independent commission.
The public can only scratch their heads over the process created by the Supreme Court of Canada 20-odd years ago hoping it would resolve the historic challenges in setting judicial compensation.
