LOCAL/NATIONAL The StarPhoenix Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Saturday, January 26, 2002 Saskatoon-born Supreme Court justice Estey dies at 82 TORONTO (CP) - Willard Estey, a retired Supreme Court justice whose recommendations for a more competitive grain transportation system are still being debated, has died at age 82. Estey died Thursday night in Toronto, said Wayne Robinson, a director of the Saskatoonbased Estey Centre for Law and Economics in International Trade. The cause of death was not immediately known. appointed to the Supreme Court in Septembers 1977, serving until his retirement in April 1988. Estey was born in Saskatoon on Oct. 10. 1919. He was the son of another Supreme Court justice, James Estey, who helped establish the University of Saskatchewan law school. His brother, Clarence, who died in 1995, was a justice with Saskatchewan's Court of Queen's Bench. In the late 1980s, Estey took a year off his du- ties at the Supreme Court to lead an inquiry into the failure of two chartered banks. Estey's report into the collapse of the Northland Bank and the Canadian Commercial Bank absolved the government of blame. It placed much of the responsibility for the failures on the shoulders of bank regulators and recommended a reorganization of the federal regulator's operations. Estey reviewed the country's grain-handling and transportation system and in May 1999 recommended measures which he said would produce a more competitive, efficient process. A year later, the federal government unveiled its plan to overhaul the system. However, wheat growers said they saw savings of as little as six cents and as high as $1.70 a tonne. In 1990, Estey was among 66 people appointed to the Order of Canada by was appointed to the Supreme ( Court the following Gov. Gen. Ray Hnatyshyn. year. Estey studied law at the The country's highest court was saddened to University of Saskatchewan learn of Estey's death, Supreme Court Chief Jusand was called to the bar in tice Beverley McLachlin said in a release. the province in 1942. McLachlin said while she never had the opporInstead of practising law, tunity to sit with Estey on the Court, she admired Estey served with the armed his keen sense of justice and passion for "getting forces during the Second the job done." World War. Estey was "active to the end" with the centre Following the war, he at- that bore his name, Robinson said Friday. Estey tended Harvard Law School The centre i is a think-tank that studies the legal and then taught at the Univer- and economic implications of international trade sity of Saskatchewan until 1947, when he joined a agreements and globalization. The centre, a federToronto law firm. ally incorporated not-for-profit corporation, grew Estey was appointed to the Ontario Court of Ap- from an idea conceived by Estey after he retired peal in 1973 and in 1975 became Chief Justice of from the Supreme Court. the High Court of Justice of Ontario. Funeral arrangements were not immediately anHe became Chief Justice of Ontario in 1976 and nounced. Estey
