One of the things that we noted in our brief was that there isn't a large.... Although you've quoted the percentage of court time, I believe it was 75% of offences that were eligible for preliminary inquiries did not opt for preliminary inquiries. Certainly, it does sort of push the envelope back, but since the other provisions have been put in place in terms of streamlining preliminary inquiries, there has not been, in our experience, a major issue in terms of the timeline.
We also have to remember that there are other mechanisms that the Crown can use to speed things up. In a worst-case scenario, if we feel there will be timeline problems or if it's being abused, we can certainly prefer a direct indictment. The Crown can admit statements by way of paper copies, and the court can certainly curtail what it considers to be a vexatious cross-examination.
There are certainly cases where preliminary inquiries are set and then they don't go ahead, but those are not what we have seen as the bulk of the cases.