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Winkler gets nod as Ontario top judge PM surprises by naming ex-labour lawyer known as `Wink' to replace McMurtry as chief justice June 02, 2007 Tracey Tyler Toronto Star Warren Winkler likes to downplay his razor-sharp mind. "Being from a small town, I'm easily confused," he told a recent Toronto legal conference on the intricacies of class action lawsuits. But the judge from Pincher Creek, Alta., sufficiently impressed another Albertan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to be named Ontario's new chief justice. In a development that caught many in the legal community ? Winkler included ? by surprise, Harper yesterday appointed the 68-year-old to oversee Ontario's justice system and lead the 22-member Court of Appeal. He replaces Roy McMurtry, who retired Thursday on his 75th birthday. "You could have pushed me over with a feather," Winkler said yesterday from his farm near Markdale, Ont., as his two black Labradors, Maggie and Gretzky, took afternoon naps. "They're unimpressed," he said. Winkler's promotion is something of a stunner. He edged out Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor, McMurtry's choice as his successor. McMurtry was vocal, in fact, in support of O'Connor, saying he had the support of all judges on the Court of Appeal. But the conventional wisdom was O'Connor had one strike against him. He headed the inquiry into the Walkerton water disaster, which summoned former Ontario premier Mike Harris to the witness stand ? a source of embarrassment apparently never forgotten by Harris's cabinet colleagues, including Jim Flaherty, now federal finance minister and close to Harper. It's likely, however, that Winkler, a former labour lawyer known as "Wink," will be warmly welcomed in his new role. Popular among lawyers and judges and known for his wit, he's been senior trial judge on the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto for three years. Like McMurtry, "he brings to this important position humanity and compassion and a remarkable gift for find the middle ground ? in any dispute," said Toronto litigator Linda Rothstein. McMurtry left "very big shoes to fill," Winkler said yesterday. His appointment means Canada now has two chief justices from Pincher Creek. Supreme Court of Canada's head jurist Beverley McLachlin, five years younger at 63, also grew up in the town of under 4,000 at the foot of Alberta. Winkler has said that growing up in a small town, where his father was a high school teacher, taught him about sorting out problems; there was no hiding from fellow townsfolk so disputes had to be worked out. He would later use those skills to mediate some of Ontario's most complex civil cases in the past decade, including lawsuits over the Walkerton disaster, the Windsor-Michigan Tunnel and the restructuring of Air Canada. Pincher Creek also taught Winkler not to take short cuts, as he told a recent dinner in his honour after he received University of Toronto's Bora Laskin award. Anxious to get to a dance, he tried to wade through a creek and missed the festivities. Winkler is an avid outdoorsman. At one time that meant hunting, and lion and big-horn sheep trophies. Now his interest lies in preserving waterfowl and wetlands, notably at Long Point jutting into Lake Erie. "You go through a metamorphosis," he said yesterday. |