Ontario agency trying to break legal-aid boycott (1)
Ontario’s legal-aid program has struck back at boycotting defence lawyers by creating a novel, one-lawyer flying squad to travel the province defending murder cases.
In a flurry of moves to defeat the six-month-old boycott and move Legal Aid Ontario toward a public-defender system, the agency has also begun to put cases out to tender and offer $5,000 bonuses to non-boycotting lawyers across the country in the hope they will “strike break,” Criminal Lawyers’ Association president Frank Addario said Friday.
“This will mean increased expenses for travel and accommodation – which they don’t pay for now – and foisting counsel on a defendant even if he doesn’t think that particular lawyer is qualified,” Mr. Addario said. “Why don’t they just fund the program they originally designed?”
Mr. Addario said the bonus program is a first, and that he is unaware of any other province that has tried a legal-aid flying squad.
“They are advertising across Canada for lawyers to come to Ontario to break the boycott,” Mr. Addario said. “They would rather waste millions on inquiries and fact-finding reports which they ignore – and hundreds of thousands more on advertising, travel expenses and signing bonuses.”
Attorney-General Chris Bentley was stung last month when the striking lawyers rebuffed his attempt to end the fee boycott with an infusion of money into the program.
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Notes:
Sounds like “McShifty” has another brawl on his hands. Should be interesting.
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