On that ludicrious bi-lingualism bill

Brian Lilley looks at the ludicrousness of it all at The EXaminer. This is an except so go read the whole thing:

“What galls me,” says retired Supreme Court justice John Major, “is that people like Bob Rae and Ignatieff vote for it.”

It’s shocking for a former justice of Canada’s highest court to make such a direct statement about current politicians but Major is clearly annoyed at the passage of Bill C-232 in the House of Commons. The private members bill from the NDP’s Yvon Godin passed third reading in the House on March 31st with very little media attention and is now up for debate in the House of Commons. The bill would require every judge appointed to Canada’s high court to be able to understand English and French without an interpreter.

On the face of it, that is a mild bill and many would say not a terribly taxing demand to make of a judge that will hear cases in both official languages. That view however takes the bill at face value and does not consider how official Ottawa implements things like language laws.

Justices on the Supreme Court hear very complex legal cases from both the common law and civil code systems, the impact of this bill is that it would require all judges to be able to hear cases at the highest level with no interpretation or translation assistance.