All of this just so that a judge can have a few days off

A few minutes ago I decided that I should probably browse a few recent Canadian Orders-in-Council just to be up on the kinds of things that Cabinet is dealing with these days. Not surprisingly, many of these deal with things like appointments or amending previously passed Orders-in-Council. When everything was considered, the content of most of the Orders-in-Council that I examined was not particularly surprising or shocking (though in one case it did look as though Cabinet mistakenly referred to the NSERC Act instead of the SSHRC Act).

One Order-in-Council that did catch my eye had to do with the transfer of the position of Administrator (i.e the stand-in for the Lieutenant Governor) from the Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal J. Michael McDonald to a series of other individuals.

At first this seemed a little strange. Why would the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court lose this post only to have it filled by two other individuals in quick succession? Of course once I read the entire Order-in-Council, instead of just skimming it, things started to make a little more sense. It seems that McDonald will be unable to perform the duties of the Administrator for a few days (I am guessing that this need might related to a vacation or trip) and needed a fill-in. For whatever reason, instead of appointing just one fill-in to act as Administrator during McDonald's absence (July 12 to July 21), two Court of Appeal judges were appointed (one to take the first few days and the second to take that final few days).

Of course, to achieve this juggling of responsibilities six distinct directions had to be given. Firstly, McDonald had to be relieved of his duties as Administrator. Secondly, a first replacement had to be appointed. Thirdly, the first replacement's duties were to be terminated on a given date. Fourthly, a second replacement had to be appointed. Fifthly, the second replacement's duties were to be terminated on a particular date. Sixthly, McDonald had to have his duties reinstated. These orders were then repeated in French.

So now you have a little bit more information regarding the types of business Cabinet deals with.