From my limited understanding and Wikipedia-ing I can tell a tale:
Back in the olden times (before the 1980s), some lawyers were soooo special, good, and smart, that the big boss (government) would give them ⭐ Gold Stars ⭐ (King’s Counsel designation) so that they could tell everyone far and wide that they were special, good, and smart. So good that the 👑 King or Queen 👑 would trust them.
Mr. Dougie in 2023 thought “Oh, that’s fun! Let me do that again and give out gold stars to some great lawyers!”. To figure out who the best, smartest lawyers were, it would be good to talk to some other smart lawyers, maybe some big boss judges, or the lowly / peasant community.
But instead of doing that, Mr. Dougie and his buddies released a list of lawyers who were going to get gold stars on a website. Some of the lawyers in the list were good friends with Mr. Dougie or people Mr. Dougie knew.
Reporters who care about what the big boss (government) does were confused and asked Mr. Dougie, “Hey, we noticed that you gave out some gold stars - and some of those people are your friends! Do they really deserve these gold stars? How did you figure out who was going to get these super special stars? 🤔 Also, why are you giving out gold stars to laywers anyway? No one else gets gold stars 😡”.
Mr. Dougie replied, "Ooooops 🤪. Next time we give out gold stars I’ll definitely explain to everyone how we give out these stars. But trust me this list is 100% amazing and these people are the smartest, best lawyers in all of Ontarioland. That’s a Dougie Guarantee ™️ "
…
And that is the end of another chapter in “Mr. Dougie and the Quest to Trample our Democracy”
Sorry if that was patronizing LMAO was just bored and have too much time on my hands. If anyone knows more about this and any broader implications I would love to know tbh.
“King’s Counsel” is an honorific which was previously given out as a mark of prestige. It was abused as a way for the premier to show favour to chosen individuals and was retired eventually. Ford has recently brought it back and is handing it out to these people.
ELI5 pls.
From my limited understanding and Wikipedia-ing I can tell a tale:
Back in the olden times (before the 1980s), some lawyers were soooo special, good, and smart, that the big boss (government) would give them ⭐ Gold Stars ⭐ (King’s Counsel designation) so that they could tell everyone far and wide that they were special, good, and smart. So good that the 👑 King or Queen 👑 would trust them.
Mr. Dougie in 2023 thought “Oh, that’s fun! Let me do that again and give out gold stars to some great lawyers!”. To figure out who the best, smartest lawyers were, it would be good to talk to some other smart lawyers, maybe some big boss judges, or the lowly / peasant community.
But instead of doing that, Mr. Dougie and his buddies released a list of lawyers who were going to get gold stars on a website. Some of the lawyers in the list were good friends with Mr. Dougie or people Mr. Dougie knew.
Reporters who care about what the big boss (government) does were confused and asked Mr. Dougie, “Hey, we noticed that you gave out some gold stars - and some of those people are your friends! Do they really deserve these gold stars? How did you figure out who was going to get these super special stars? 🤔 Also, why are you giving out gold stars to laywers anyway? No one else gets gold stars 😡”.
Mr. Dougie replied, "Ooooops 🤪. Next time we give out gold stars I’ll definitely explain to everyone how we give out these stars. But trust me this list is 100% amazing and these people are the smartest, best lawyers in all of Ontarioland. That’s a Dougie Guarantee ™️ "
…
And that is the end of another chapter in “Mr. Dougie and the Quest to Trample our Democracy”
Sorry if that was patronizing LMAO was just bored and have too much time on my hands. If anyone knows more about this and any broader implications I would love to know tbh.
God this is a top quality reply.
“King’s Counsel” is an honorific which was previously given out as a mark of prestige. It was abused as a way for the premier to show favour to chosen individuals and was retired eventually. Ford has recently brought it back and is handing it out to these people.