In an unusually public and legal tiff between two arbiters of Quebec’s disciplinary process, Quebec Superior Court ruled that the chair of Quebec’s disciplinary council of presidents has the power to remove cases, even in deliberation, from administrative adjudicators who take too long to render judgment.
The precedent-setting ruling, the first that examined the scope of powers in the hands of the chair, follows in the footsteps of a pan-Canadian trend by the courts to hold that the long-standing principle that adjudicators decide must give way to timely decision-making to ensure access to justice, respect for natural justice and the protection of the public, according to disciplinary law experts.