With five provinces scheduled to go to the polls in 2011 and three more expected to go next year, it’s a good time for the legal community to be advancing its election wish list.
Don’t expect the provinces to put one forward. Look at their election platforms and you see the same old justice agenda. Get tougher on crime and promises of a faster justice system. That’s if they mention justice at all. Most don’t because the traditional thinking is that there are few votes to be won by touting a justice agenda. That’s wrongheaded. There are votes to be won. It just needs to be the right agenda and more than getting tough on crime.
The tough-on-crime message, like it or not, sells with the public. And if you’re looking to get elected, it’s the public you want to appeal to. That’s because most people dislike crime and criminals even more. They want safe cities and safe communities. That’s as Canadian as ice hockey.
What Canadians don’t want in their justice system is a lot of the nonsense that goes with it. Delays, gamesmanship, get-out-of-jail-free cards to recidivists, queue jumping by illegal immigrants, and the increasing complexity and impact that laws are having on our lives.
The whole notion of a justice agenda is somewhat bizarre, given the nature of what politicians do. They are lawmakers and their
raison d’être is to pass and refine legislation. So a justice agenda is not simply about the courts. It’s about the style of lawmaking and how you’re going to use laws to create public policy and the impact that public policy has on the masses.
Increasingly, the public’s attention is on the economy. Canada’s economy is being buffeted by the waves of economic despair swamping the shores of our major trading partners and our economic sails are propped up by historically low interest rates. When those interest rates revert to the mean, and they will, the waves of economic turmoil will lap our shores. There are already signs of that. Ontario has become a have-not province and unemployment rates are nearing double digits for some communities.
Given that, what lawmakers should be advocating is an agenda that promotes job creation and economic opportunity.
First, the provinces should get to scrapping provincial trade barriers. There are still far too many prohibitive measures preventing the free flow of goods and services across internal borders.
Second, provinces must cut back on red tape and eliminate unnecessary laws and regulations that impede companies’ ability to establish operations and develop our strengths, such as resources. Prohibitions on things like shale gas development are shortsighted.
Third, stop corporate welfare and needless subsidies to companies and industries and let free markets do their job. The alternative energy boondoggle in Ontario is but one example of a government trying to prop up an industry that can’t support itself. The government could better spend those dollars investing in more alternative energy research and development.
Fourth, use the tax code to create incentives for employers that create jobs. Whether it’s a break on corporate income tax, payroll taxes, health taxes, or provincial sales taxes, provinces need to do more to encourage companies to hire people.
Fifth, tackle provincial employment standards law and human rights reforms. The laws and regulations governing workplaces are unwieldy and it’s impossible for small and medium-sized businesses to keep pace. Such companies are the backbones of our economy. Provinces need to rein in overzealous HR commissions.
Sixth, the provinces, which are responsible for the administration of justice, need to bring better efficiencies to the court system. Everything remains largely paper-based and the ability of the public and companies to access legal data such as pleadings, court schedules, filings, etc. is woefully inadequate. Digitize the data and make it available so that upstart technology companies can access the data and create new products and services. It will also allow academics and analysts to better comb data and understand the demands being placed on our justice system.
Lastly, unrepresented litigants in the area of family law are an epidemic that eats away at valuable court resources. The federal and provincial justice ministers need to arrive at a consensus on how to deal with the situation (should government even be involved in the business of marriage and its dissolution?). There should be a justice minister conference dedicated solely to fixing this problem through the use of mediation and arbitration and more simplified rules for disentangling couples economically.
It will be an interesting fall, especially if the global economy continues to swoon. Voters are in an ugly mood and that bodes badly for incumbent governments.
Jim Middlemiss (
[email protected])
is a Toronto lawyer and co-owner of WebNews Management Corp.
