The committee of MLAs responsible for overseeing Alberta's electoral boundaries has encountered another obstacle in its search for an independent advisory panel chair. The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) has announced it will not participate in the recruitment process.
UCP MLA and special committee chair Brandon Lunty sent a letter to the CBA on May 12, requesting that the association circulate a call for applications for the independent advisory panel chair. This request came after the committee learned that the courts would not be involved in the process.
At a committee meeting on May 12, the opposition read a letter from acting Alberta Chief Justice Dawn Pentelechuk, who stated that the courts would not circulate the request or provide input on selecting a chair due to the "irregularity" of the process and based on legal advice.
Christopher Samuel, President of the CBA Alberta Branch, wrote a letter to Lunty on May 14, explaining that since Pentelechuk had indicated the courts would not circulate the request, the association would follow suit. "The Chief Justices are the proper entities to circulate this notice, and it would be inappropriate for the CBA to circumvent their decision," Samuel wrote.
In a statement to Postmedia, Lunty did not specify whether the committee would reconsider its approach to selecting a chair or if the CBA's refusal hinders the committee's work. He merely noted that the application deadline had been extended to Tuesday, from the original May 14 deadline. "A meeting to review the expressions of interest will be called in due course," Lunty said.
The UCP majority committee passed a motion on May 12 to circulate its request for appointments not only to the CBA but also to the presidents of all post-secondary institutions, the Ministry of Justice, and the Law Society of Alberta.
Alberta NDP MLA and committee member Kathleen Ganley criticized the UCP members' attempts to bypass the judiciary, calling them inappropriate. She said the responses from the CBA and Pentelechuk highlight a larger issue with the process, reiterating her previous statements that the process is illegitimate. "I wish it meant more for the process," Ganley said. "Normally, having the Chief Justice of Alberta and the Canadian Bar Association look at a process and be like, 'no thanks' that should give anyone pause, but I sincerely doubt that it will give the UCP pause in this case."
