Federal government rejects $28,000 raise proposal for judges

OTTAWA — The federal government rejected a recommendation by an independent commission to increase judges’ salaries by $28,000, saying it can’t justify the raise in this economy. Article content

In a statement posted online Monday, Justice Minister Sean Fraser said the government “respectfully disagrees” with all one-time salary increases advised by the quadrennial judicial compensation and benefits commission this summer. Article content

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In July, the commission recommended the government increase the “inadequate” salaries by $28,000 for most federally-appointed judges to $36,000 for the chief justice of the Supreme Court. It would be the first lump-sum raise outside of indexing since 2006.

It also recommended increasing the compensation of associa