Premier Christy Clark has announced several changes to her government, to allow Attorney General Shirley Bond to focus on reforming B.C’s justice system.
Responsibility for ICBC will be transferred to Finance Minister Kevin Falcon, while Gaming goes to Housing Minister Rich Coleman.
Clark says the province needs a reformed justice system because B.C continues to see increases in the number of cases delayed or stayed. Crime rates in the province, however, are dropping.
Lawyer Geoffery Cowper will chair a justice reform committee to consider a number of ideas put forward in a green paper released today.
Clark says he will identify the top issues that are affecting public access to timely justice.
One issue deals with B.C being one of only three provinces that requires prosecutors to approve charges instead of police. Premier Christy Clark says this will go under the microscope.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Premier Clark said today, “but it’s something we’re certainly talking about and we’ll see what Mr. Cowper says.”
Currently, prosecutors reject police recommendations for Charges about 30 percent of the time. But on the flip side, judges issue fewer stays of proceedings in B.C than most other provinces.
The B.C Conservatives are reacting, saying the justice system needs action, not more reports.
Chilliwack-Hope byelection candidate John Martin is a criminologist by trade, and he says a B.C Conservative government will restore funding cuts made by Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell.
He says clearly this government has no plan, because two weeks ago Attorney General Shirley Bond said there was no money to hire new judges, but yesterday 9 were hired for the provincial court.
The justice reform committee will report back in July.
The Solicitor General’s ministry will be renamed the Justice Ministry.
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