1. Harper froze federal legal aid funding in this country a decade ago.
2. There also aren’t enough judges in Quebec or Alberta nor are there enough federal prosecutors in most provinces.
3. Public Works and Government Services Canada lets cases go to court with $1,000-an-hour lawyers rather than negotiating with the costs ending up on the Justice Department’s bill.
4. Harper has lost five major cases that ended up going all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
5. The Conservative government hasn’t been applying constitutional tests to legislation before it goes to Parliament.
6. Legislation related to child kidnapping would force judges to hand down a 4 year minimum mandatory jail sentence but at present judges are handing down 8 year sentences and more often than not, it’s 16 or 20 years if there is violence or a killing.
7. The Conservatives are promising to spend $20 million to help sex trade workers as part of their new prostitution law but that’s over five years across the 10 provinces and three territories and Harper could pass the money out to his favourite religious groups rather than women’s organizations or sex-trade worker associations.
etc.
The Hill: A peek at justice issues from the opposition side of the House.