I think your question, sir, has to do with comparing the relative ease of obtaining legal aid in Quebec and Ontario. I have had the privilege of serving on a federal committee with provincial representatives from Quebec, and I have visited the legal aid plan in Montreal and studied their operations. That was about 15 years ago, however.
As you know, the administration of justice is a provincial responsibility under the Constitution Act. Every province has a legal aid plan that is particular to that province. They're all slightly different. Quebec has an admirable legal aid plan in that it has very broad coverage, very wide coverage. Many more civil matters historically have been covered in Quebec than in Ontario, for example. The corollary was that for many years Ontario had a slightly more generous financial eligibility set of criteria than did Quebec, although I am aware that the financial eligibility criteria in Quebec have recently been increased. I think Quebec's are very close to Ontario's now.
My sense is that legal aid plans have been moving closer together in other ways. I think there are some great strengths in the legal aid plan in Quebec. I think in some ways it's better than Ontario's, but in some ways Ontario's is better than Quebec's. They are both relatively big, strong, and powerful plans among the plans of the country.