The Use and Abuse of Inquiries: Do They Serve a Policy Purpose

Professor Wade MacLauchlan: We have the great pleasure of being joined by Mr. Justice Willard Estey who, among other things, sits on the Supreme Court of Canada. As regards his involvement with commissions of inquiry, Mr. Justice Estey is eminently qualified to speak from many different experiences as advocate and counsel for various interests before commissions of inquiry during his long period as a busy practitioner. As well, during that period he served as counsel to a variety of commissions. Since going to the bench, he has conducted three inquiries; into the Steel Industry in Ontario, into Air Canada and, most recently, into the collapse of two banks in Western Canada. I suppose it tells you something about the person when you consider that in all three of those cases the inquiries were conducted expeditiously and on a fairly bare bones budget. I believe the longest of any of those three inquiries was ten months, the time required to conduct the banking commission.