The premier weekly newspaper for the legal profession in Ontario
Issue link: https://digital.lawtimesnews.com/i/50767
Law timeS • September 20, 2010 on how long a campaign can last, but in reality we all know the longest- running provincial vote in history has been un- derway since the start of summer. To be precise, the Election launches into second act T heoretically, the Ontario Election Act puts a limit Election campaign Inside By Ian Harvey they wanted to keep it. Saying it wasn't "too soon Act prescribes general elec- tions at four-year intervals on the first Thursday in October, as long as it isn't a religious holiday or some other special day in the view of the chief electoral officer. Section 9.1(3) goes on to say: "a writ for an election shall be dated on a Wednes- day" and further, in s. 9.1(5), that "polling day shall be the fifth Thursday after the date of the writ." So in my calculations, the writ should drop on Wednes- day, Sept. 7, 2011, and we'll be marching to the polls on Thursday, Oct. 7, just before Thanksgiving weekend. Of course, that means there's more than a year to go before the election hoopla really be- gins. Still, it won't feel a lot different from what's going on now. With the date of the election written virtually in stone, every day between now and then is stump day unlike in the past when the govern- ment kept us guessing as to when it might head for the polls in a bid to catch the op- position unprepared with its pants down. Indeed, on Monday as the legislature resumed sitting for the fall session, the pre- mier made a point of noting that "the Ontario recovery is in fact underway. It is not as strong as any of us would like to see. We have regained some 85 per cent of the jobs we lost during the course of the recession, but there is more work to be done." Wow. Who knew? And fur- ther, the Liberals aren't the old Liberals anymore. There will be no more tax and spend for these folks. They've learned their lessons. "We have, in fact, reduced government-wide use of con- sultants by about more than 54 per cent since 2003," Pre- mier Dalton McGuinty pro- claimed. "In just the last year alone, the use of consultants is down by 25 per cent; travel expenses are down by 23 per cent; government advertising spending is down 20 per cent. Again, we are comparing that to the previous Conservative government." If there were any doubts about the race being on in earnest, they vanished over the Labour Day weekend as McGuinty staged a photo op to promote the advent of all- day kindergarten at which he declared voters should stick with the incumbent party if for us to consider the choice we're going to have next Oc- tober," McGuinty took direct aim at his biggest threat in the form of Conservative Leader Tim Hudak. By the time election day rolls around, there will be some 50,000 kids in 800 schools in all-day kindergar- ten, which critics say is little more than free daycare since the gains educationally are marginal and fade quickly. The cost, however, is not inconsequential at $1.5 bil- lion annually when fully im- plemented in 4,000 schools across Ontario by 2015. So where does that leave us? It means more pain and more misery, as the Conser- vatives and NDP continue to remind us inside and outside the house. Hudak barely waited for the welcome back niceties on opening day before launch- ing into his battle cry over the Liberals' tax-and-spend record, including reminders about the health premium, the eco tax, the eHealth On- tario debacle, and the shock- ing effect of energy policies on our hydro bill, which he says will push costs up 43 per cent by 2015 and add anoth- er $732 a year onto a family's energy bills. And all we got in return, Hudak noted dryly, was a $50 children's activity credit. The NDP's Andrea Hor- wath wasn't far behind with her criticisms. "During the premier's summer of dis- content, flip-flops were in abundance. He backed away from the eco fees he had cre- ated. He embraced an online gambling scheme that he had earlier rejected. Meanwhile, [people] are worried about jobs. They're worried about hospital cuts, but most of all they're worried about be- ing able to make ends meet. When will the premier start looking after their needs and make their lives a little bit easier?" Pass the popcorn as the show is about to begin. The second reel is going to be a doozy that will almost seem anticlimactic when we finally do get to the third act and vote next year. LT Ian Harvey has been a journal- ist for 32 years writing about a diverse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His e-mail address is ianharvey@ rogers.com. www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT Time to move forward on legal aid Queen's Park BY MELINA BUCKLEY For Law Times to a just society, it lags far behind education and health care and, to a lesser extent, social assis- tance, in terms of public awareness and spending priorities. A 2008 report on legal aid in Ontario concluded that funding had declined by almost 10 per cent from 1996-2006 while spending on health increased by 30 per cent and education by 20 per cent during this period. Nevertheless, Ontario is the province with the highest per-capita spend- ing on legal aid in Canada. This isn't a new story. Media A reports about the perils of in- adequate legal aid for litigants denied meaningful access to justice appear with startling frequency. We now know more about the personal, social, and eco- nomic costs of unrepresented litigants and people whose legal problems go unresolved due to inad- equate legal assistance. But this growing awareness isn't translating into better legal aid policy. Instead, demand continues to outstrip capacity as legal aid providers struggle to do more with less. In some parts of the country, there's virtually no legal aid representation for non-criminal mat- ters. In fact, even the constitutionally protected right to counsel in criminal cases is eroding. As a consequence, the most disadvantaged members of our community fall further behind, judges struggle to carry out their functions, and public confidence in the justice system plummets. How can we turn the tide on two decades of neglect and move forward on legal aid? In a recent policy discussion paper commis- sioned by the Canadian Bar Association entitled "Moving Forward on Legal Aid," I survey recent research on legal needs and innovative approach- es to delivering services at home and abroad. I also propose a road map for moving forward. While I don't have all of the answers, I make three main recommendations for immediate ac- tion to break the impasse on legal aid. The starting point must be the acknowledg- ment that the central cause of the decline in fund- ing is the federal government's retreat from being an initially strong supporter and founding partner of legal aid programs at their inception in the ear- ly 1970s to a much more limited role today. The shift in funding mechanisms from cost-sharing to transfer of undesignated funds for social services in the mid-1990s was catastrophic for civil legal aid. The reduction of the federal contribution in criminal matters is also highly problematic. It's not simply a question of money, though, as there's a pressing need for federal leadership on the policy side through the establishment of national standards to ensure that essential public legal services of a reasonable quality are available to all Canadians. This role is constitutionally re- quired by s. 36(1)(c) of the Constitution Act. The renewal of the federal role in funding legal aid and establishing national legal aid policy is the sine qua Canadian publicly funded legal aid sys- tem was established 40 years ago. While it's the fourth pillar of our commitment non step to ensure the viability and sustainability of this vital social program. The CBA has been a proponent of federal legislation establishing a national legal aid program comparable to the Canada Health Act for years. The time is clearly long past due for such a change. The second prerequisite for legal aid renewal Speaker's Corner is involvement of civil society in a discussion on the issue. Enhanced public awareness and sup- port will create greater pressure on both the fed- eral and provincial governments to act. In British Columbia, a number of legal organizations have banded together to establish a public commis- sion on legal aid to engage people to determine their priorities for it. The commission will be holding public hearings throughout the province this fall with a view to seeking progressive so- lutions to improve the delivery of legal aid. Other creative approaches to achieve this objective of positive, informed public dialogue about legal aid include public demonstrations, web-based exchanges of infor- mation and views, and access-to-justice audits through which people can voice their experi- ences with the legal aid system or lack thereof. I anticipate this dialogue will provide us with a much-needed step back from finger-pointing debates between funders and providers over dol- lars and cents while focusing on the underlying basis for providing legal aid. Renewing the link between legal aid and its role in overcoming social exclusion and increasing the health of our com- munities is key to moving forward. The third avenue is the continued modern- ization of the delivery of legal aid services. The Canadian justice system is on a continual quest to update procedures developed in a simpler time so it can meet the challenges of our increasingly complex and law-bound society. For some time, legal aid lagged behind these efforts, but today a multitude of innovative approaches are in devel- opment to improve quality and ensure the most accessible, cost-effective, and efficient services. There's no simple solution to meeting these multi-faceted policy goals. However, there are many options ranging from expanded duty counsel programs to multidisciplinary legal aid clinics. The point is to recognize that there will be a constant cycle of review and improvement, a process to which all stakeholders, including the legal profession, can actively contribute. Fostering ongoing innovation in legal aid policy and delivery goes hand in hand with increased funding for this essential service. The Canadian legal aid system has travelled a rough road over the past 20 years. Entry into the fifth decade of legal aid programming is an auspicious time to revisit the strong rationale for this pillar of our social safety net and expand the dialogue on the issue so that it's a more public and inclusive one. It's time to move forward. LT Melina Buckley is a lawyer and legal policy consul- tant working in the areas of human rights, access to justice, and dispute resolution. PAGE 7