VI. The Incidental Allowance

The military judges’ position at para. 203 of their factum is that considering that military judges receive certain reimbursements from the budget allocated to the Office of the Chief Military Judge, it is appropriate to grant them a lesser incidental allowance in the amount of $3,000 as compared to the $7,500 incidental allowance granted to other federally appointed judges. Whereas the Government is of the view at para. 148 of their brief that it is not necessary, nor justified, to change entirely the manner in which the operating expenses of military judges are reimbursed. Just as the Chief Military Judge may refuse to reimburse military judges for certain costs, the Government asserts that other federally appointed judges may be denied certain costs under the line directors.

This Committee finds that currently all incidental funds payable to the military judges are under the control of the Department of National Defence chain of command, whereas the military judges in order to preserve their independence require an independent guaranteed source for an incidental allowance. Therefore, this Committee agrees that fixing an annual incidental allowance of $3,000 for the military judges would be most appropriate.