Good afternoon, Mr. Biggar and Mr. Guitard.
First, I would like to thank you for clarifying Ontario's Legal Aid Services Act for us. On behalf of lawyers in the province of Quebec—I work in private practice—I can tell you right now that legal aid pays more in Ontario than in Quebec.
Second, you have been talking mostly about Ontario, which is why you are here. As I understand it, you want to renew a 50/50 agreement between two partners, like the one that was in place in Quebec for a while. The same rules apply in both Ontario and Quebec. As you know, we are in pretty much the same boat in that respect.
You mentioned three major categories for low-income individuals. I am talking about those who are eligible for certificates, which we call a mandate. As you know, legal aid is a provincial responsibility under subsection 92(14) of the British North America Act. It falls exclusively under provincial jurisdiction, and there are federal-provincial agreements in place.
Let us suppose that, among your clients, there is a low-income francophone from Ontario—which happens, just as there are low-income anglophones in Quebec—who has the sort of problem that could affect any of us—say, a ticket in English. He is poor and needs to defend his rights. Is he eligible?
In Quebec, we accept immigration, employment insurance and social housing cases. We accept cases related to all federal legislation. Are there federal acts or criteria that say poor people cannot have access to this service to have their rights as francophones respected if they have received a ticket issued in English from the City of Ottawa?