Supreme Court judge to make surprise exit

Trudeau already on hunt for replacement as Clément Gascon steps down after five years

OTTAWA— After just five years on the country’s top court, Justice Clément Gascon will retire in mid-September “for personal and family reasons,” potentially opening a Quebec seat on the Supreme Court of Canada just as a federal election campaign is playing out.

In making the surprise announcement Monday, Chief Justice Richard Wagner suggested he hoped Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would move quickly to name a replacement.

“I am confident that the necessary care and consideration will be given to the prompt appointment of a new justice,” Wagner said in a statement released by the court.

The Conservative Party said no search should get underway until recent leaks about the last round of judicial appointments — and a disagreement between Trudeau and his former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould over who should lead the top court — are investigated.

But Trudeau, who has already named two high court judges, signalled he is beginning the search for a third right away.

On Twitter, Trudeau thanked Gascon for his service, wished him well in retirement and said he’d already asked former prime minister Kim Campbell to lead the search for his replacement. Campbell led Trudeau’s advisory committee for his appointments of Justices Sheilagh Martin and Malcolm Rowe and “will once again lead the advisory board to select a new appointee, as part of a nonpartisan, transparent, and merit-based process.”

Gascon, who is 59, did not specify what led him to quit the bench, but called his 17-year judicial career a “privilege.”

“It is an immense honour to have been part of a judiciary that, by its expertise, quality, and independence, is a model in Canada and around the world. I remain profoundly grateful to all those who put their trust in me over the years,” he said in a written statement.

Gascon had practised civil and commercial litigation and labour law in Montreal before the federal Liberal government of Jean Chrétien appointed him as a trial judge on the Quebec Superior Court in 2002.

The Conservative government of Stephen Harper elevated Gascon to the Quebec Court of Appeal in 2012.

Following Harper’s failed attempt to appoint a federal court of appeal judge to a Quebec vacancy on the top court, Harper ditched any parliamentary hearing into his next pick and named Gascon to the Supreme Court in June 2014. Harper’s first choice for the job, Marc Nadon, saw his appointment invalidated by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Deputy Conservative leader Lisa Raitt praised Gascon’s “wisdom, dedication and professionalism” but she said the Trudeau government should not immediately launch a new selection process.

Instead, the party’s justice critic said the government must investigate how the name of a previous candidate for the Supreme Court was leaked during the Liberals’ “misguided attempt to engage in damage control over the SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal.”

Over the past two decades, prime ministers of different political stripes have attempted to bring a measure of transparency and independent advice to the task, but making Supreme Court appointments remains the sole prerogative of the prime minister. It is an unparalleled chance to name the individuals who have power to shape and interpret the law and the constitutional powers of different levels of government.