The changes to the Judicature Act were reintroduced as Bill 17 on 16 November, shortly after the new session began with a Speech from the Throne on 2 November. Also on that date, Smith's Freedom of Information request to obtain documents related to the identity of the drafters of the bill failed. On 16 January 2017 in a speech to the Moncton Rotary Club, Smith divulged that he had asked the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association to challenge the Bill in the Supreme Court of Canada. The Gallant government, as of January 2017, refused to provide a specific example of a transfer that they found unacceptable or that they would have vetoed. Smith has only made transfers "as a result of a vacancy, and as a result of a request by a judge. There was never a judge moved that hadn't made a request to make that move." It was looking grim for Smith's gambit two months later; the head of the CSCJA noted that the judicial reference procedure is available in Canada only to executive branches of government. On 18 April, the Board of the CSCJA concurred with its head, and stated that Smith's request "is not an appropriate role for the association".