Quebec justice minister Stéphanie Vallée announced an investment of $175 million over four years to hire more judges and prosecutors.
Vallée says the new money, and the new staff it will pay for, will help stabilize a court system that's chronically plagued with long delays — so much so, that some court proceedings, including some murder cases, are at risk of being scrapped altogether.
A recent Supreme Court ruling which set maximum times for court cases means that more than 200 cases now before the courts could soon be tossed out.
The new money, contained in a piece of legislation called Bill 125, will be spent on hiring two new Appeal Court judges, to bring their number to 22. The government would also hire five Superior Court judges and 16 for the Quebec Court.
In addition, there will be 69 more prosecutors, 114 more assistants, and dozens more special constables, probation agents, and other support staff.
CJAD 800 legal expert Chris Dimakos says the cash is badly needed.
"It's a step in the right direction, the fact that they're recognizing that there is an issue with regard to staffing and the allocation of resources to our justice system — that's a start, there's no question," DImakos says. "How they're going to implement that money into the justice system to render it more effective is a whole other ballgame."
Dimakos adds, however, that a lot will depend on how the money is spent. In addition to hiring more staff, putting some of that money toward upgrading technology in the legal system would also help speed things along.
"We have a justice system, in my opinion, that's archaic, compared to other types of businesses. We're still working in a manner that we've worked 50 years ago."