OTTAWA -- The Harper government has promoted the co-chairman of the Conservative election campaign in New Brunswick to a federal judgeship, sparking an allegation that the Tories intend to use the prestigious postings as patronage plums.

Toews, in filling the first of 38 vacancies on federally appointed courts since the Conservatives took office in February, elevated lawyer Richard Bell to the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench, the province's superior court.

Bell will earn $232,000 annually once a 7.25-per-cent raise is approved by Parliament as expected.

"This falls in the tradition of rewarding your buddies," said Jacob Ziegel, a law professor at University of Toronto. "Nothing has changed. It's very sad, and it's time the government got out of the business of naming judges."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper campaigned on a promise of government accountability and cleaning up Ottawa. Justice Minister Vic Toews, as opposition justice critic, rallied against the system of appointing judges, saying it was rife with patronage.

"Harper is no different from his predecessors," Ziegel said. "You wonder how sincere he is in his commitment to accountability."

Ziegel is one of several respected members of the legal community who have called for reforms to the system amid complaints that you can't get a judgeship without political connections.

There are 1,100 federally appointed judges who sit on the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court, the Tax Court of Canada, the Court Martial Appeal Court, as well as courts of appeal and superior courts in each province.

Mike Storeshaw, a spokesman for Toews, defended Bell's appointment, saying that he is well regarded and highly qualified for the job.

"The qualifications he brings transcend any party politics," said Storeshaw. "People have the right to be involved in party politics. That doesn't make it the deciding factor in whether people get these types of judicial appointments. It's always going to be their credentials and their ability to do the job."

Bell, 51, was a partner in the law firm McInnis Cooper in Fredericton before he was elevated to the bench this week. He graduated from Dalhousie University law school in Halifax with a bachelor's degree in 1979 and a master's degree in 1998. He was a past president of the New Brunswick branch of the Canadian Bar Association.

As well as co-chairing the Conservative campaign in New Brunswick for the last two federal elections, Bell, who was a Liberal before joining the former Canadian Alliance, was also an organizer for Harper's bid to lead the party in 2002.

Toews supported revamping the appointments process when he was in opposition, but he appears to have had a change of heart, saying late last month that the system is a "relatively well-working mechanism."

There currently is an advisory panel, comprising members of the legal system and community activists, that decides whether judicial applicants are "recommended" or "not recommended," a system that leaves latitude for the justice minister to appoint from a large pool of hundreds of candidates.

"All the advisory committee does is screen out the bad apples," Ziegel said.

He wants the federal government to follow the lead of the provinces and pick judges from a short list of three to five contenders chosen by an independent advisory panel.

Toews was the co-chairman of an all-party committee that made the same recommendation just before the federal election was called in November.

As opposition justice critic, Toews also was highly critical of former justice minister Irwin Cotler for appointing his former chief of staff, Yves de Montigny, to the Federal Court in late 2004. Toews acknowledged that de Montigny was probably highly qualified, but he said that wasn't the point.

"It's just one more illustration of how who you know gets you on the bench," Toews said at the time.

Greg Byrne, a Fredericton lawyer who is president of the New Brunswick Liberal Association, said it would be unfair to assume that Bell's political connections got him his job.

"I certainly think he is qualified and I don't think anybody would dispute that," said Byrne.

"People would be concerned if somebody was appointed who wasn't up to the task."
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2006