You know, I was just starting to warm up to the idea that, despite his foibles, Doug Ford was an okay guy. And I guess I can still retain some of that warm and fuzzy feeling for Ontario’s premier, and I will, but one of those foibles has reared its head and made me sort of wonder.
At the end of Friday, as all of Ontario geared up for a long Canada Day weekend, Ford and the provincial Tory government slipped an announcement into the media stream proclaiming the reinstatement of the King’s Counsel designation for the province’s lawyers who excel in the legal sphere.
One catch.
You don’t have to be particularly good at the job, you just have to be politically connected to the folks in power. So all sorts of party hacks, who happen to be lawyers by profession, some of whom are not even practicing law, can now apply the KC designation after their names.
The practice was stopped back in the 1980’s by the David Peterson government, who felt that it had been rendered meaningless owing to the frequency with which it was granted. In short, its over-use had compromised its cachet.
Ford says his government brought it back to honour the crowning of King Charles III. As if Charles would notice such an august honour.
But it gives Tory cabinet minister Caroline Mulroney, KC the honour, despite not being licensed to practice law in Ontario. Several other Tory cabinet ministers also received the “honour,” as well as a number of backroom party loyalists and political staffers.
On the face of it, the designation does nothing of benefit to those awarded. It confers no special privilege, no bump in pay, not much of anything really, other than those two letters after your name, which nobody really recognizes anyway owing to people being accustomed to the designation of QC, or Queen’s Counsel.
But still, it’s just not really a necessary thing, and if I was a legitimate, licensed practicing lawyer in the province of Ontario, I’d be loathe to tack those two letters after my name for fear of being labelled as a pretentious little snot. While I’ve no doubt earned the little snot designation, I wouldn’t need the meaningless KC marker. Also, I’d be afraid that real lawyers would make fun of me. In fairness, I should note that power criminal defence attorney Marie Henein was awarded the title, but maybe that means Marie is a little too much into herself. That is, of course, if she accepts and uses it.
Is it really that big of a deal? Is it really something that should occupy my thoughts on a lazy Sunday morning? More than likely not. But still, it was just so unnecessary, and was obviously tucked into the Friday long-weekend media dump so as to avoid any immediate negative media attention.
So, the credit I’ve given to Ford for what I consider to be more important things remains intact. It’s just that these little forays into the old patronage-riven Doug Ford are things that I find to be disappointing.
And watch how quickly Conservative lawyers, licensed or not, run to embrace their new “special” status. Ontario printers are happy as well, as legions of Tories line up to have their new business cards printed with the shiny new KC on them.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 