Ottawa urged to send salary dispute with judges directly to Supreme Court

CBC: The Canadian Superior Court Judges Association argues it would be more efficient to simply ask the Supreme Court to settle the issue, which is related to a proposed salary boost of $28,000 to $36,000 a year for judges within the federal judiciary.

The salary increase affects not only judges sitting on each province’s superior courts, but also the Federal Court or Supreme Court judges who may be called upon to settle the dispute.

For now, the case is before the Federal Court. In the event of a reference to the Supreme Court, the question for the nine judges would be whether Ottawa’s refusal to approve the raise “satisfies its constitutional obligations in respect of protecting judicial independence.”…