The decision by the Ford government this week to appoint a former Progressive Conservative party vice-president to the bench smacks of patronage and risks undermining confidence in the justice system, opposition parties say.
Lawyer Sara Mintz — whose previous tenure on various tribunals was also criticized by the opposition — was one of three people appointed Monday by Attorney General Doug Downey to become a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice. She will preside in Toronto.
The appointment comes in the wake of Premier Doug Ford repeatedly stating he wants to appoint “like-minded judges” to the court who will incarcerate even more people — a statement described by legal organizations as a “substantial threat” to the independence of the courts.
Ford’s comments were in reaction to a Star exclusive in February that his government placed two of his ex-staffers on the arm’s-length committee that vets and recommends judges: former Ford deputy chief of staff Matthew Bondy has chaired the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee (JAAC) since Feb. 1, while former director of stakeholder relations Brock Vandrick has been a public member of the 13-person committee since December.
“Another day, another gravy train appointment from Doug Ford,” Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said in a statement to the Star this week.
“His judicial appointment of a former vice-president of the Ontario PC Party not only undermines the integrity and independence of our justice system, it’s another glaring example of Ford’s pattern of boldface cronyism,” Crombie said. “We only need to look south of the border to see exactly what happens when judicial appointments become political.”
NDP Leader Marit Stiles, who had previously criticized Mintz’s appointment on a provincial tribunal in 2020, said putting her on the bench “appears to be one more patronage appointment from this government.
“People need to feel confident that our judges are chosen based on merit,” Stiles said in a statement. “Doug Ford keeps putting his friends and former staffers in plum positions on tribunals and the committee that picks our judicial candidates.”
The Star asked Mintz for comment, but received an out-of-office reply indicating she has no access to email or voicemail.
Mintz has been a lawyer for 20 years and is an expert in family and civil law, said Downey’s spokesperson, Jack Fazzari, also highlighting that she has been the alternative executive chair of Tribunals Ontario since 2022.
(The Ontario Court of Justice hears criminal and family matters; civil cases are heard by the Superior Court of Justice, whose judges are appointed by the federal government.)
“As required by law, all appointees were subject to an in-depth vetting process set out publicly on the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee website and were recommended to the AG,” Fazzari said.
Among other things, the committee must consider professional excellence, a commitment to public service, moral courage and high ethics when evaluating candidates for the bench.
Mintz has worked at a number of law firms and her tribunal work has also involved being associate chair of the Licence Appeal Tribunal and the former Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.
She was also awarded the King’s Counsel designation for lawyers that the Ford government revived last year and then gave to dozens of Progressive Conservative ministers, MPPs, political staff, party loyalists, and donors, prompting widespread accusations of patronage.
In a 2022 column on party loyalists being appointed to tribunals, which have been struggling under massive case backlogs, the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn wrote that Mintz was promoted to her Tribunals Ontario position after just over a year at the Licence Appeal Tribunal.
When she was about to become associate chair of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, Mintz told a legislative committee in 2020 that she served as fifth vice-president of the PC party about 17 years prior, for one term. She also interned for a summer in the office of former PC Premier Mike Harris around 2001.
Stiles, who was not yet leader of the NDP, asked Mintz at committee whether she was approached by anyone in Ford’s office before applying to the board; Mintz said her interest adjudication led her to apply and participate “in a competitive, merit-based system for the appointments.” She also emphasized that she has an extensive background in family law.
“I would just say, for the record, that what we have here is a clearly very partisan appointment, with very strong connections to the conservative party of Ontario,” Stiles said at committee in 2020.
Downey implemented changes to the judicial appointments process in 2021 that were met with fierce opposition from legal groups, worried it would open up the bench to patronage appointments. Among other things, he gave himself the power to select the representatives on the JAAC from three legal organizations — the Law Society of Ontario, the Ontario Bar Association, and the Federation of Ontario Law Associations — based on lists of candidates submitted by them.
The Law Society’s spot on the committee had been left vacant for months as Downey considered the legal regulator’s list, with no explanation for the holdup. Finally, the Law Society announced Tuesday that Christine Johnson had been chosen.
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation