BR NS Judges Pay – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
May 6, 2016 

HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia branch of the Canadian Bar Association says proposed legislation would strip an independent tribunal of the power to set salaries for the province’s judges, a move that would seriously erode judicial independence.

The association says the proposed changes to the Financial Measures Act would remove language that ensures the salaries of provincial and family court judges are set by an independent commission.

Instead, cabinet would be given the power to overrule the commission’s binding recommendations.

Association vice-president Dennis James says there is no indication that the compensation process needs changing.

Finance Minister Randy Delorey says the change would give the province the option to reject salary increases that it simply can’t afford.

He says the change wouldn’t infringe on the independence of judges.

Delorey says Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories are the only jurisdictions in the country with binding recommendations on salaries.

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(The Canadian Press)

INDEX: NATIONAL JUSTICE ATLANTIC POLITICS