The past leader of the Reform Party, Preston Manning, was at St. FX University in Antigonish Nova Scotia on this date in 2002. He was there to deliver the annual Allan J. MacEachen, name in honour of one of the most distinguished graduates of the university.
In his lecture, Manning took aim at what he described as “judicial activism” and the side-lining of duly elected political leaders in the public policy process.
“Why is there no great public outcry against judicial activism, even if it poses a threat to democratic accountability? Because democracy itself is generally in decline, and there is frankly more respect for judges and courts among much of the electorate than there is for politicians and Parliament,” he said. “When politicians say they have a mandate for making laws in relation to the public interest by virtue of winning a democratic election, what does this really mean at a time when democratic participation is declining?”
You can read Manning’s address in full at this link: https://www.stfx.ca/department/political-science/judicial-activism-social-policy-and-role-parliament
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.