CUTTING COURT BACKLOGS

Last year the Supreme Court of Canada set maximum time periods for various courts around the country to complete cases that have come to trial. The time frame for cases in provincial courts is 18 months and 30 months for trials in Superior Courts. The average time to complete a trial in Ontario (Superior Court) in 2016 was 32.4 months, 2.4 months in excess of the new maximums allowed.

Another proposed change to speed up court cases is the removal of minimum sentences. "The Canadian Bar Association says more cases end up at a trial when offenders believe negotiating a plea would not result in any change in sentence.". These mandatory minimums imposed by the Conservatives when in power have been blamed for clogging up the courts as everyone pleads not guilty in order to avoid the minimum sentence if convicted.

The Waterloo Region Record article was published April 29/17 and titled "Finding ways to cut court backlogs".