On Oct. 19, 2015, 39 per cent of Canadians who voted, voted Liberal, electing Justin Trudeau and the Liberals to government. In a matter of weeks they will have been in office a full year. Many remain concerned with the odd priorities of the current government: I have yet to meet a Canadian who has raised electoral reform or legalization of pot as their top priorities. Nor has the massive deficit spending or the repeal of sound economic policy such as pension reform and First Nations financial transparency received a ringing endorsement. Governing is more than the undoing of previous policy and an endless string of photo-ops or selfies. Yet setting its own agenda is the government's prerogative, and time will tell.

An area in urgent need of attention, however, is the continuing mishandling of judicial appointments and the government's astonishing neglect of Atlantic Canada, where I am proud to be from.

In almost a year, the government has appointed just over a dozen judges to fill the 44 (and growing) vacancies. It says it is working on creating a new, more accountable system. Of course, there is always room for improvement. There is no harm in seeking a better model. But claims of greater transparency won't matter if the process doesn't result in new judges.

Certainly, no Canadian would find it acceptable to be told that their region of the country, for the first time in history, would have no representation on the Supreme Court.

Even the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada is calling for the appointment of judges from the existing model, drawing from a list vetted by a non-partisan panel to fill the void. This process, used for almost 30 years, resulted in what the prime minister himself has described as a judiciary respected and admired around the world. So why change it?

It seems the government has launched a PR effort to create something that will look like a fix for something that may not even be broken. There is a cost to this. Judicial vacancies must be filled in a timely fashion. The failure to do so now has senior judges in many courts, Justice Ministry officials and constitutional experts concerned that courts may not be able to meet their constitutional obligation to give trial dates within a reasonable time. A recent Supreme Court decision underscores how these delays have dire consequences. The inevitable result of these vacancies is less access to justice and more criminals walking free, potentially endangering the public.

This national failure was compounded when Trudeau and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould announced that the vacancy created by the imminent retirement of Supreme Court Justice Thomas Cromwell may not be filled by a person from Atlantic Canada. Certainly, no Canadian would find it acceptable to be told that their region of the country, for the first time in history, would have no representation on the Supreme Court. One could only imagine the outrage in Ontario, Quebec or the West if this were to happen. Firstly, it defies all constitutional convention. It is also disrespectful and an insult to Atlantic Canadians to suggest that suddenly, of our entire legal population, none are qualified to sit on the top court.