Ms. Woolley's balanced comments are perhaps the best I've seen on this issue. The most glaring shortcoming of a Canadian Judicial Council review is that it can only recommend removal of a judge. There are no other remedial recommendations it can make, regardless of the misconduct's seriousness. Close on the heels of that structural failure is a procedural one: there's no transparency in the process and clarity on how the decision to remove shall be made.

That status quo is counterproductive to the administration of justice. With the only available recourse being to fire the judge, the system is reluctant to take steps in cases where the a judge needs some kind of remedial attention short of being removed. It's shockingly poor human resource management.