Political spats should be adjudicated by the public, not the lawyerly star chamber.
In Alberta, a small circle of professionals are trying to tilt the balance of power back to themselves — and away from democracy — by using the professional disciplinary process. A few doctors are trying to depose United Conservative Party provincial cabinet minister Tyler Shandro, who is a lawyer, by
to his professional regulator. The complaints date back to 2020 when he was serving as the province’s health minister; actual disciplinary hearings began only in January when he was serving as theProfessional discipline would have created intense political pressure for Shandro to resign as attorney general, if he hadn’t just been voted out — so it shouldn’t be considered when grievances are being made to advance a political agenda.
Lawyers, Shandro included, aren’t supposed to engage in what’s called “conduct unbecoming” of the profession. In other words, they’re supposed to behave honourably. Not behaving honourably can result in sanction by the law society — and in extreme cases, disbarment and therefore the end of a lawyer’s career. The conduct should be pretty serious for the law society to get involved.
Normally, professional regulation is a good thing. Lawyers are supposed to be held to a higher standard than the rest of society — they typically have more power and more capacity to do damage than the average person, so higher expectations for behaviour are reasonable. Lawyers who end up in politics are no exception, but the trouble in Alberta is that the law society hasn’t been able to filter out political spats from professional misconduct.
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