Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario, speaks to media during the closing news conference at the Council of the Federation Canadian premiers meeting in Winnipeg, on July 12.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is promising to change how King’s Counsel designations are awarded to lawyers, after critics accused the government of handing out the symbolic honour to party loyalists.
Mr. Ford on Tuesday said the province will implement a different process for choosing which lawyers will be given the title – even as Attorney-General Doug Downey defended the decision to bring back the designation, which was cancelled by a previous Liberal government over patronage concerns.
The province quietly revived the King’s Counsel, or K.C., title on June 30, releasing a list of 91 names that includes Progressive Conservative cabinet ministers, MPPs, Mr. Downey’s former staff members and more than a dozen party donors. It also includes high-profile names such as criminal defence lawyer Marie Henein, as well as Mr. Downey himself and Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, a former attorney-general who was called to the Ontario bar three days before the announcement, as first reported by The Toronto Star. The designation means lawyers can use K.C. after their names and wear silk robes in court.
Mr. Ford said on Tuesday that the K.C. designation is not of importance to him, and does not come with additional perks such as increased pay. But he told reporters there “probably” should have been a different process in choosing the names.
“It’s a bunch of lawyers that are putting two initials behind their names, so good luck to those folks. But we have more important issues, like housing, like economic development. That’s what I’m 100 per cent focused on right now,” Mr. Ford said at an unrelated announcement in Lincoln, Ont. “But we’re gonna fix that process anyways.”
Taking questions for the first time about the K.C. titles on Tuesday, Mr. Downey said the Premier “has bigger fish to fry” than to worry about who received the designation.
“I’m really glad that we brought back the K.C. designation. It’s something that brings us in line with other provinces and most of the other Commonwealth,” Mr. Downey said after announcing $166-million to deliver more legal services online.
He said the title was given to those who have served both the Crown and their communities. “I think they’re all deserving recipients.”
Andrew Kennedy, a spokesman for Mr. Downey, said in the future there will be a public application process for the K.C. designation, and lawyers “must have demonstrated a significant contribution to our justice system and work in the public interest.” He noted the title is used by the federal government and every province, and in some other Commonwealth countries, such as New Zealand.
On Tuesday, the Ontario NDP accused the government of rewarding its members and donors with “fancy new titles,” which should be given back.
“Considering this embarrassing patronage scandal and the state of our courts, the Official Opposition is calling on each of the Conservative MPPs bestowed with the King’s Counsel title to voluntarily return it,” said Toronto MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, the NDP’s critic for the Attorney-General.
“If they merit the title and it is important to them, Conservative MPPs can then apply through the transparent process that the Conservatives have promised.”
Jacqueline Horvat, treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario, which regulates the legal profession in the province, said she turned down the designation because it lacked clear criteria.
“Having established criteria for honorariums and designations for professionals is a best practice that supports the public understanding of a credential,” she said in a statement. “I declined this designation based primarily on considerations around the lack of established criteria for the designation and the absence of a consultation process on the need to resurrect such a credential.”
Former Liberal premier David Peterson, a lawyer, said his government got rid of the designation in the mid-1980s because it had been “distorted and corrupted” by previous PC governments. He said he was awarded the title as “cover” for Tories giving out the designation to their “buddies.”
The K.C. designation amounts to a “sense of false advertising,” he said, because it makes certain lawyers more appealing than others.
“They can hand out honours to their friends and it doesn’t cost them anything.”