OTHER VIEWS Big shoes to fill at court

Beverley McLachlin kept the Supreme Court of Canada in touch with the intellectual currents in the country in ways that Canada’s chief justices have not usually done. Justice Richard Wagner, who took over as Chief Justice of Canada this week upon McLachlin’s retirement, might lead the court in a different way, but he should aim to preserve the level of public confidence that McLachlin has bequeathed to him.

The role of chief justice can isolate a person from the man in the street and the woman at the hockey rink.

McLachlin made it her business, despite the constraints, to go out and meet Canadians wherever she was invited and speak to them in plain terms about the work of the court and other topics of interest. She also brought interesting guests, including all the living former prime ministers, to have lunch with the justices and talk about anything that interested them.

She arrived at the court with a knack for clear expression. Constant contact with the broader public helped anchor her thinking in the lives and experiences of the people beyond the judicial world.

McLachlin leaves the court stronger than she found it because of her courage, her openness and her personal connection with the public.

She leaves it with a tradition of plain language that makes its rulings intelligible to anyone who cares to read them.