Prime Minister Mark Carney announced this morning that Glenn Joyal is his pick to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada, putting forward a veteran judge for one of the most consequential appointments a government can make. According to CBC News, the choice was made official with Joyal formally nominated today to the country's highest court.
Joyal comes to the nomination from the top of one of the country's provincial courts. He currently serves as Chief Justice of Manitoba's Court of King's Bench, and it is from that senior judicial post that he has been put forward to move up to the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa.
The nominee brings a lengthy record on the bench to the appointment. CBC reports that Joyal has been a judge for more than 25 years, and that he has held the role of Chief Justice since 2011, giving him well over a decade leading his court in addition to his earlier years on the bench.
The nomination is tied to a specific opening on the country's top court. It comes after the retirement of Justice Sheila Martin at the end of May, the departure that created the vacancy Carney is now moving to fill with his choice of Joyal.
An important distinction surrounds the role Joyal has been nominated for. He is being put forward to serve as one of the justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, the country's highest court, rather than as its head. His current title of Chief Justice applies to the Manitoba Court of King's Bench, not to the Supreme Court itself.
With the announcement delivered this morning, Carney has signalled his choice for the empty seat on the national bench, advancing a sitting provincial chief justice with decades of courtroom experience for elevation to the Supreme Court of Canada as it prepares to replace the retired Justice Martin.