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A group representing federally appointed judges is taking the government to court over its decision to reject a recommended pay increase.
Earlier this summer, an independent body called on Ottawa to increase the salaries of federally appointed judges by $28,000 to $36,000 a year above their existing annual increases, saying the increase is necessary to ensure top private sector lawyers continue to seek judicial appointments.
The government rejected that recommendation last month, citing “a significant deterioration in the Canadian financial outlook.”
While its findings are not binding, the Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission is the central player in an independent process that sets the salaries of judges in the superior courts, the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada, among others.
On Wednesday, the Canadian Superior Court Judges Association (CSCJA) called for a judicial review of the government’s decision, arguing that Ottawa significantly failed to comply with the commission’s recommendation.
The group represents about 1,400 judges across Canada.
“The government is not obliged to accept the commission’s recommendations. If it decides to deviate from them, it has the duty to provide legitimate reasons, based on facts and sound reasoning, and the commission’s recommendations should have a significant effect,” Jean-Michel Boudreau, a lawyer for CSCJA, said in a statement.
“The government’s response does not meet that standard. It fails to address the commission’s analysis, is silent on comprehensive new evidence showing the growing gap between judicial salaries and private sector profits, and relies on facts and economic arguments that the government did not present to the commission.”
In its decision, the government noted that judges already receive annual salary increases using the Industrial Aggregate Index.
“Judicial salaries are adequate and in any event cannot be the source of new tax expenditure at a time of comprehensive spending review, including potential public sector job losses,” the government wrote.
But the commission argued that judges’ annual pay increases are not enough.
It concluded that the base salaries of most federal judges should increase in addition to annual raises from $396,700 to $424,700, and that the salaries of most chief justices should increase from $435,000 to $465,700.
The government also disagreed with the commission’s conclusion that judicial salaries present serious challenges to attracting qualified private sector candidates to the courts.
He said the commission did not consider other explanations for the higher number of vacancies, including the 2021 federal election. He also noted that judicial vacancies fell below historical averages in early 2025.
CBC News has asked the Department of Justice for comment on the CSCJA court challenge.
Patrick Taillon, a law professor at Laval University in Quebec City, said the case will “test justice.”
“The judges who will decide on the matter are personally affected, since what is at stake is their remuneration,” he said in French.
The government’s decision was released just a day before the federal budget was presented, which projected a $78 billion deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
The government cited the impact of U.S. tariffs and the need to meet Canada’s NATO defense spending commitment in its decision to reject the increase recommendation.
