OTTAWA -- Canada's federally appointed judges are not backing down from a quest for a pay raise of 17 per cent over the next four years, despite a receding economy and scaled-back pay for politicians and other public servants covered by the federal treasury.
"We're a special group in a sense," said Justice Pierre Dalphond, president of the Canadian Superior Court Judges Association, representing more than 1,000 judges. "We cannot be disconnected from the rest, I understand that, but at the same time, we're in a special position and I guess all of that is going to be factored in when the time comes to make a rational decision."
The Conservative government is expected to announce in the coming weeks whether it will accept the recommendations of an independent commission on judicial salaries, which said last spring that 1,000 federal judges should receive annual increases that would see their base pay jump to almost $300,000 by 2012.
The proposed package, retroactive to April 1, calls for a five per cent increase this year, including mandatory indexing tied to the cost of living.
Well, that's just plain incredible.
Talk about arrogant elites who have no idea how good they have it. They have the power to deem howsoever they choose, regardless of the law, regardless of the Constitution and the Charter of Rights. They have and exercise the unchecked, unaccounted-for ability to impose a Hard-Left activist agenda onto Canada whilst ignoring their sworn duty to do their job and only that.
They hold the power to decide the fate of human beings.
They sometimes abuse it. Sometimes for the entire population, or to pit one tiny, special group against everyone else, regardless of the illegality and/or unconstitutionality of doing so. And they get away with it because they're protected by the Left, which is everywhere (including in the entire legal system) and is extremely powerful and influential, able to pull strings all over the place at a moment's notice.
And they make hundreds of thousands of dollars per annum. They make even more than Members of Parliament, who, unlike the exalted, almost-untouchable judges, have to worry about accountability, or at least the potential of being caught and being held accountable if they abuse their power. Besides, MPs get far more abusive treatment from the public and the mainstream media than do the judges, about whom we've been brainwashed into believing are perfectly scrupulous, unfailing, always right and have some special, unattainable-by-mere-mortals, understanding of the intricacies, nuances, etc. of "interpretation" of laws and the Constitution/Charter.
And that's not good enough for them. They want more money now, despite the fact that the Federal Treasury is now under great stress due to the recession we're now apparently into.
They're a "special group", all right. Bet they like to go home and sing "I'm too special for my robe; I'm too special for my gavel; I'm too special for my entitlements..."
