Paul Cosgrove

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Paul James Cosgrove, PC (born December 30, 1934) is a Canadian jurist and former politician.

Cosgrove served as Mayor of the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario in the 1970s.

Cosgrove entered federal politics running as the Liberal Party candidate in York—Scarborough in a 1978 by-election for a seat in the Canadian House of Commons. He was defeated in that run, as well as in the 1979 election.

In the 1980 election, however, Cosgrove was elected, and he was appointed Minister of Public Works, Minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Minister responsible for National Capital Commission in the Canadian Cabinet of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

He was reassigned in a 1982 cabinet shuffle to the position of Minister of State for Finance. He was dropped from the Cabinet in August 1983, and appointed to the bench in Ontario shortly before the 1984 election.

In 1999, Judge Cosgrove stayed the charges of a woman accused of murder after a 22-month trial. He ruled that the Crown attorney, police and a deputy attorney general had committed 150 constitutional violations, findings that were unanimously rejected by the Ontario Court of Appeal in the fall of 2003 with the Court ordering a new trial.

As a result, the Attorney-General of Ontario, Michael Bryant filed a complaint against Cosgrove, calling him unfit to be a judge, and accusing him of sullying reputations and of having "vilified the state". As a result of the complaint, Cosgrove was suspended pending a hearing into his conduct that was scheduled for December 2004. Cosgrove complained to the Canadian Judicial Council that the scheduled hearing was unconstitutional and damaging to judicial independence. His lawyer claimed that Bryant's action created a situation in which the Attorney-General could punish judges for making controversial decisions, since a complaint by an Attorney-General automatically would result in suspension pending a hearing. According to Cosgrove's lawyer:

It creates a 'chilling effect' that will undermine the ability of judges to adjudicate fearlessly cases, as justice requires. This chilling effect undermines and is wholly inconsistent with judicial independence.

According to the Globe and Mail newspaper , Cosgrove's affidavit warned that judges might become afraid to criticize or rule against the Crown if they thought a vindictive attorney-general could, in effect, end their careers simply by lodging a complaint. The consequences of this were argued to be so negative that the process effectively permitted an attorney-general to become "the judge in his own cause". [1].

Both the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association and the Ontario Criminal Lawyers' Association supported Cosgrove's case.

In October, 2005, the Federal Court of Canada ruled in favour of Judge Cosgrove and stripped the Attorney-General of the power to force the Canadian Judicial Council to conduct hearings that could remove judges from the bench.

In her ruling, Justice Anne Mactavish wrote:

In order to ensure the integrity of the judiciary, it is essential that there be suitable mechanisms in place to ensure judges are held accountable when they misconduct themselves. At the same time, the judiciary must remain independent in order that individual citizens can be confident that judicial decisions affecting them are arrived at, untainted by external influences.

The federal court ruling halted the proceedings against Judge Hargrove who had been on a paid leave of absence since Bryant's April 2004 request for a disciplinary hearing.