Law Times

Page 6 August 19, 2013 • LAw times COMMENT u Editorial obitEr By Glenn Kauth Raise lawsuit caps W ith the provincial government finally relaxing the rules around asset limits for welfare recipients, it's a good time to take a look at the restrictions on the amounts people can keep from court awards. As Law Times reported online last week, some personal injury lawyers are calling for reforms to rules that allow those receiving Ontario Works benefits to keep just $25,000 of their cash entitlements from a successful lawsuit. Similar restrictions under the Ontario Disability Support program impose a limit of $100,000. If people want to continue to receive benefits should they receive an award higher than the cap, they must return the excess to provincial coffers. The welfare limit has been in place and remained the same since 1990 while the ODSP cap dates back to 1998. It's easy to see the logic in having a cap. From the perspective of many members of the public, why should they continue to support people who suddenly find themselves with rich cash awards that likely exceed the amount most taxpayers will ever have in their own bank accounts? If someone has that much money in the bank, they can live comfortably off that for some time, according to that logic. But on the flipside, successful litigants are people who have had a wrong committed against them. Whether the wrong was due to a medical error or a car accident, why should they lose the right to fair compensation simply because they receive public support, particularly when they may have ongoing medical needs? From that perspective, the limits to some extent are just one more way of keeping people poor. It's difficult to reconcile the two perspectives but it's clear a reasonable way to respond to the issue is to index the caps to inflation. For years, the government has ignored inflationary pressures when it comes to welfare payments and asset limits but has finally started to act at least when it comes to the latter issue. It has provided some small boosts to monthly payments while allowing recipients to keep more of their earnings from working and, as of September, will increase the Ontario Works asset limit to $2,500 from $606 for a single person. Given the changes on those fronts, it's only reasonable for the government to do the same, according to the inflation rate, when it comes to the caps on lawsuit awards. — Glenn Kauth Does MacKay signal shift in approach? T he crime rate has gone down again for the ninth year in a row. It's now as low as it was 40 years ago. All through the 1970s and 1980s when Pierre Trudeau and Brian Mulroney were running things, the crime rate kept climbing. Then Jean Chrétien came to power and the crime rate began sinking like a rock. But it had nothing to do with Chrétien. We just suddenly had more old people than before. It's no surprise the overall crime rate is going down. Crime is down everywhere in the western world and Canada is no different. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Stephen Harper keeps bringing in tougher laws. It has nothing to do with curbing crime but it does get him votes. The most violent of crimes is murder. There were 543 homicides in Canada in 2012; that's 55 fewer than in 2011. Murder was at the lowest rate since 1966. You probably couldn't tell that if you live in Toronto after last year's Eaton Centre and Danzig Street shootings, but that's only frightening if you don't take into account the fact that Toronto has more than three million people. Law Times So what's going up or stayNow get set for this statising the same? tic from the Canadian Centre The Hill Well, sad to say, there for Justice Statistics: Toronto were 21,900 sexual assaults reported a seven-per-cent reported to police in 2012. decrease in the crime rate in That's only 60 fewer than the 2012. In fact, Toronto had year before. the lowest overall crime rate The worst news is that for for the sixth year in a row. the second consecutive year, So where are the crimethe number of sexual offences ridden towns? Hang on for this one. It's Kelowna, B.C., Richard Cleroux against children is up. That's bad news indeed. The inwhere the crime rate actually rose six per cent in 2012. Regina came in crease is only three per cent. It's not oversecond, but its crime rate still went down whelming, but any increase is disgusting. Let's hope the increase is due only to more 10 per cent. If all you worry about is violent crime, reporting of assaults to police. The Harper government's reaction then you should know Winnipeg leads in crime severity followed by Saskatoon to the steadily decreasing crime rate has been to pretend it just hasn't been hapand Thunder Bay, Ont. Break and enters and car theft are pening. The government has been bringing still a problem, often by young people. in tougher laws with harsher penalties In Canada, there's about one break-in every three minutes and one car theft for people caught with marijuana while putting more people in jail and keeping every seven minutes. But the kids have better things to do, them there for longer periods of time. it seems. There were 5,500 fewer break- It's as if Harper hasn't been reading the ins and 4,500 fewer car thefts last year. statistics. In addition, Harper changed the law That's 43-per-cent lower than a decade earlier for break-ins and 57-per-cent that said prisoners had to be kept in the least restrictive conditions to help their lower for car thefts. Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON • M1T 3V4 Tel: 416-298-5141 • Fax: 416-649-7870 • www.lawtimesnews.com Director/Group Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . Karen Lorimer Editor in Chief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gail J. Cohen Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Glenn Kauth Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Yamri Taddese Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Santry Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mallory Hendry CaseLaw Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adela Rodriguez Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alicia Adamson Production Co-ordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . Catherine Giles Electronic Production Specialist . . . . . . . Derek Welford Advertising Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kimberlee Pascoe Advertising Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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Publications Mail Agreement Number 40762529 • ISSN 0847-5083 Law Times is published 40 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd., 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON, M1T 3V4 • 416-298-5141 clb.lteditor@thomsonreuters.com circulations & subscriptions $179.00 + HST per year in Canada for print and online (HST Reg. #R121351134), $145 + HST per year for online only. Single copies are $4.50. Circulation inquiries, postal returns and address changes should include a copy of the mailing www.lawtimesnews.com rehabilitation. The word rehabilitation was never in Harper's dictionary. So he brought in a new law that emphasizes the level of incarceration "necessary and proportionate" to the sentence. "There's a reason he changed the wording," says Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia. "You don't change language for nothing. The government did it so it could put more people in isolation." But now we have a new justice minister, Peter MacKay, who hasn't always done exactly what Harper told him to and so far seems more concerned with issues such as curbing family violence. It's not necessarily a big change for the government but it's a shift in approach given its emphasis on tougher laws. Recently, for example, he touted a "victimfocused and victim-friendly approach to criminal justice and social services intervention." Wait until Harper hears how MacKay has been talking. LT uRichard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His e-mail address is richardcleroux@rogers. com. label(s) and should be sent to Law Times One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto ON, M1T 3V4. Return postage guaranteed. 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