The "Competence" Standard...

Ignatieff says a mouthful with this one:

"This indicates a Prime Minister that essentially wants to use the executive authority of his office to begin to reshape the judiciary, not just in terms of personnel, but in terms of basic philosophy..."

"We have seen south of the border the negative consequences that ensue when judicial appointments are overly politicized according to an ideological litmus test. One of the things that Canada has got right has been by and large a competence standard, not an ideological standard."

So then why did 60% of judicial appointments that came out of these committees donate "exclusively" to the Liberal Party before becoming judges?

That's some "competence standard." It seems that "competence" to the Liberals means "Liberal."

But apparently some Liberal appointments to judicial committees are guilt ridden:

"For me personally, I would like to think that I've got a broad and diverse enough background to have contributed something meaningful... I know this all probably sounds incredibly self-serving, and I'm in a bit of an awkward position but ... I don't think me being a Liberal or someone else being a Tory is the stick by which to judge whether someone is competent or not competent to sit on the committee."

I believe that's what we would call "denial." Hear no evil, see no evil I suppose.