It's very different in Toronto from what it would be in New Brunswick. It's very different in New Brunswick from what it is in Quebec. It's very different in Quebec from what it is in Manitoba. And that's because the system is not funded the same. Legal aid in Toronto, for instance, is much better in some respects than legal aid in other provinces.
Some provinces will say the legal aid system in the province of Ontario is wonderful, it's a Cadillac. Some other places would say we don't have anything like that. Well, of course, for Toronto, the cost of doing business here is greater, but the system is being remarkably strained by legislation that we're rolling against, and we're trying to figure out how this affects us.
I would hate to be a judge--and it won't happen, so nobody has to worry. How is a judge going to do their job with managing the court on the limited resources that they have, with the strain on legal aid and the rise in the unrepresented accused, and then the possibility of mandatory sentences? At the end of the day, they'll want to throw up their hands, I'm sure.
They can't speak for themselves, but it must be an incredible strain on the judges. Let's be honest. Basically we're saying to them, “You're not doing your job.” And they are doing their jobs. They're doing their jobs every day. There are all kinds of anecdotal stories, but we have a great criminal justice system, and it works. But it is being strained by new legislation that doesn't look at the domino effect of it.
So Mr. Comartin, that's why the people who are on the council--and we have representatives, as you know, from right across the country--look at this and say, “Wait a minute. We don't have a problem in Yellowknife. There's no gang problem here. There's no shooting here. How do I react to this dislocation of families and stuff?”
When a bill is passed, it's not passed for Toronto or Vancouver; it's passed for every part of the country. And the criminal justice system is straining. We don't want to have persons rushed through trials because we can't afford to do it properly.
I don't know whether that helps.