Friday, April 02, 2010

Laurie Hawn Clarifies

Apparently, I wasn't the only one hassling him for suggesting that Bill C-392 was an attack on the West. He offers a "clarification" of his opposition to the bill in the first minute of the following youtube clip:

Fair enough, Mr. Hawn, but you did play the alienated Westerner card in your original twitter post. You did.

3 comments:

JimBobby said...

The original tweet:

Opposition coalition passes bill that limits Supreme Court candidates from west to almost nil due to level of bilingual reqt. #cdpoli

http://twitter.com/mplauriehawn/status/11399497583

Gallahad said...

RS, says

"Hawn is saying Western Judges are too stupid to learn French?"

Yes, that is exactly what he is saying.

He is also saying westerners are Xenophobic.

He plays the politics of division, in trying to pit the West against Quebec.

That is why I find him so reprehensible.

Besides that, the man is a total moron, unworthy of public office.

Gayle said...

"So, is Hawn saying that western judges are too stupid to learn French?"

No. He is pointing out there are only a handful of potential SCC candidates from Alberta, and most likely from Saskatchewan, who would meet this requirement, which greatly restricts the pool from which SCC judges may be chosen, which in turn ensures that the candidates may not have the legal skills necessary for the position. Since the SCC has worked very well without this requirement, he is wondering why we suddenly need it.

I asked a friend of mine who says he knows of fewer than 10 judges in Edmonton who are fluently bilingual to the point where they are qualified to hear trials in French.

I think we can assume fewer than 10 in Calgary too and perhaps a few in the other judicial districts.

I would say there are more stupid judges than there are French speaking judges.

I am going to repeat what I said in the earlier thread. If you want your courts to be fluently bilingual, make being fluent in both official languages a requirement for entry into lawschool and/or admission to the bar. Offer courses in legal French at every law school. Eventually the "problem" will be solved.

He is NOT saying westerners are xenophobic, but given the amount of hate filled comments I find here directed towards the west, I am not sure I can say the same about some of you guys.