Doug Ford floats idea of electing judges in rant on bail reform

Ontario Premier Doug Ford blasted judges in the province whom he perceives as being soft on crime, and floated ideas on Wednesday such as electing judges and offering them payouts to retire early.

His comments sparked criticism from the opposition and concern from criminal defence lawyers.

Ford was at Peel Regional Police headquarters to announce measures on bail in an upcoming justice bill, though he said the most meaningful bail reform actions must come from the federal government.

The province will create specialized prosecution teams to handle bail for serious and violent offences, force those on probation who wear ankle monitors to pay for them and launch a comprehensive review of the bail system.

The bill is set to include changes to the judicial appointments process, and when asked about that, Ford ranted about judges and justices of the peace who give people bail multiple times.

“The system is broken, and once these judges get into their position, they have this sense of entitlement,” Ford said.

“That’s what drives me crazy. We were democratically elected as a government. And I always say, the legislature is supreme and the people are supreme. When you get a mandate to do something, you can’t have judges constantly overruling the government.”

Ford then criticized a judge who recently ordered the province to pause the removal of some bike lanes in Toronto until a constitutional challenge is decided.

Don’t judges have anything better to do than worry about bike lanes, Ford asked.

“What right do they have (as) unelected, politically appointed judges determining our budgets,” he said.

“We get elected democratically. Last time I checked, there hasn’t been any judges elected. Maybe that’s the problem. We should do what the U.S. does. Let’s start electing our judges, holding them accountable. And that’s my rant for the day, because I’ve just had it.”

Attorney General Doug Downey then approached the press conference podium to add his own comments on the subject and joked that Ford’s remarks were actually restrained.

“You should see what he says in private,” Downey said.

The attorney general said he’s looking for applicants who will “help protect our communities.”

“We need judges who will take the law, apply the law and understand where community sentiment is at,” he said.

Last year, Ford defended his government’s appointments of two former staffers to a committee that helps select provincial judges, saying he wants “like-minded people” in appointments, not Liberals or New Democrats.

On Wednesday, Ford dismissed the idea of judicial independence.

“You know something, that’s a joke as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

“There’s no judge appointed anywhere in this country, anywhere in the United States, anywhere in the world, that’s not a political appointment. Simple as that. You think these judges just come out of the blue?”

Ford also suggested he wants to offer buyouts to “bleeding heart” judges.

“I can’t wait until they retire,” he said. “Matter of fact, I’ll pay them to retire earlier. I’ll pay you out for two, three, four years. Just get out of the system, simple as that.”

As well, he suggested publicly highlighting the names of judges and justices of the peace who grant bail to an offender who then goes on to commit a crime.

“Why don’t we post, ‘This judge let Johnny out six times, and he just murdered someone,'” Ford said. “Who’s accountable? Does the judge call the family up and say, ‘I’m sorry I let this guy out’? Something has to give, I just can’t stress it enough.”

The province appoints lower court judges and justices of the peace, who largely deal with bail matters. The federal government is responsible for hiring judges at higher levels of court.

Since taking office in 2018, Ford has remade the judiciary by hiring significantly more Crown attorneys as judges and more law enforcement officers as justices of the peace.

And in that time, provincial jails have seen a staggering increase of the inmate population to the point that the entire system is over capacity, provincial data show. More than 80 per cent of inmates in provincial jails have been denied bail as they await trial and, as such, are presumed innocent until found guilty.

There are several measures of accountability in place for judges and justices of the peace.

Judges’ decisions can be appealed and overturned by the Court of Appeal and the Ontario Judicial Council deals with complaints about judges’ conduct. For example, the council suspended Hamilton judge Bernd Zabel for 30 days for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat to court.

Judges should not be held accountable directly to the public, said Boris Bytensky, president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association. That’s partially because legal decisions should not be a popularity contest, and the public does not have every single fact in a particular case to be able to properly judge, he said.

“Judges are appointed with tenure and with the absolute powers of judicial independence so that they are not doing something that is purely the most popular decision or that they think that the people will be happiest with,” Bytensky said.

“It may be a very unpopular decision to do what’s right in law.”

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said Ford’s comments are “deeply alarming.”

“Respecting the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law is necessary for a fair criminal justice system in Canada, and protects all of our rights and freedoms,” the organization said.

The opposition also took umbrage with Ford’s comments.

“The premier’s attempt to politicize our courts and our judiciary is unacceptable and it is dangerous,” said New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles.

“Look, his personal vendetta against the courts is not something that Ontarians share.”

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said she was concerned about the “very erratic remarks that the premier made this morning, kind of ignoring the rule of law and not recognizing the difference between the executive and the judiciary.”

“People need to have confidence in our judiciary system,” she said. “They need to know that their judges are fair, that they’re independent, that they’re qualified, and that they’ve been selected because of their merit.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2025.

Liam Casey and Allison Jones, The Canadian Press