Drunk Driving DUI Law

Attorney General Chris Bentley returned to his old turf yesterday, telling a roomful of criminal lawyers he’s trying to fix Ontario’s justice system as any shrewd defence lawyer would approach a case.

He’s strategizing.

Speaking to the annual conference of Ontario’s Criminal Lawyers’ Association, Bentley suggested he’s laying the political groundwork before asking cabinet colleagues to approve millions more in legal aid funding and won’t strike until the moment is right.

“I have been preparing for my time carefully,” said Bentley, a former defence lawyer.

“We (want to) make sure that when the ‘ask’ is made, it stands to bring … some success.”

His remarks come on the heels of a provincial report released Friday that linked an eroding legal aid tariff to the problem of complex criminal trials spinning out of control.

It recommended a new system of “enhanced” legal aid fees for these cases, to entice experienced lawyers with the skills to keep trials focused back into doing the work. They currently earn $92 an hour.

But it was more lion’s den than homecoming for Bentley when audience members took to the microphone.

Ottawa criminal lawyer Mark Ertel pointed to another provincial report from earlier this year that said Ontario’s defence bar has “palpable” anger over a legal aid tariff it considers grossly inadequate.

“I’d like to think of (us) as more frustrated – frustrated like Pavlov’s dogs were when they pressed the food lever and no food came out,” he told Bentley.

“What we would like is not for you to come here and say we have to wait for `the big ask,’” Ertel said. “What we would like is for you, as attorney general, to come here and say the legal aid plan is broken.”

With nothing likely to happen soon, Bentley appealed yesterday to the nobler human instincts of the hundreds of lawyers gathered at a downtown hotel and their shared history as defence counsel, urging patience and encouraging them to remember that legal aid work isn’t about money.

“I worked on legal aid cases every single day I was working as a defence lawyer,” he said. “Long after they didn’t make any money, I still worked on them. I worked on them because it’s the right thing to do.”

Without legal aid “anonymous, nameless people would never have access to justice,” Bentley said.
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