Justice committee  There is lots we might add, but I think we're out of time. We have a flight to catch. Thank you very much.

Justice committee  In 19 years of doing this, I've had one occasion where the Crown was beyond their six months and they approved a charge by indictment. By agreement, we decided to proceed summarily. We decided to forgo the limitation period because we knew we could do it by agreement. That was the only occasion.

Justice committee  That's interesting, because I don't think the provisions we're really equipped to speak about, such as extending the limitation period to prove a charge in a summary offence, will do it. I mean, that's sort of the cynical way of trying to get around Jordan. This is all basically an attempt to get around Jordan.

Justice committee  I wouldn't say nothing in this bill. That's going beyond my scope of knowledge of the bill. I have to tell you that this is an omnibus bill, and you sit down and read the things that shock you. That's why we're here.

Justice committee  We don't have a delay problem in B.C. One of the reasons why we don't have it is that charge approval is done by Crown prosecutors. I've done cases in Ontario and Alberta where charge approval has been done by police officers, and there were cases that shouldn't have had charge approval.

Justice committee  I think it should be removed completely. We already have the scheme, in British Columbia, in which police officers provide an affidavit with respect to a 90-day driving prohibition when the person is being charged with impaired driving, or for over 0.08 or refusal cases. We get that affidavit.

Justice committee  We're looking for a simple solution here. The simple solution that is offered in this bill is just to eliminate it. I think we can be a little bit more creative than that. The solution that's proposed makes sense, so why not?

Justice committee  Ms. Lee conducts these hearings over the phone. They're 30-minute hearings and she has to speak very quickly.

Justice committee  She has become accustomed to basically making her argument very rapidly. Both of us have to do that.

Justice committee  Good afternoon. Thank you very much for permitting us to testify at this panel. My name is Paul Doroshenko. I'm a criminal defence lawyer in Vancouver. Kyla Lee is my colleague and is probably the busiest impaired driving lawyer in British Columbia, and the head of the Canadian Impaired Driving Lawyers Association.