BarTalk April 2001
Volume 13, Number 2

Gordon Campbell, MLA - The BC Liberal Response

Gordon Campbell, MLA, Leader of the Official Opposition

How do you see the justice system in relation to your plans for the future of British Columbia?

As one of the cornerstones of our democracy, the justice system plays a critical role in maintaining a civil society and ensuring all British Columbians have equal access to the rights and privileges accorded to them under the law. We believe that we need to instill a new sense of optimism and trust in our democratic institutions. We believe that strengthening our justice system through effective management and competent leadership is an essential component in delivering a new era of political stability in our province.

Our duty as elected officials is to protect our justice system and respect the independence of the judiciary. We can support and strengthen confidence in the judiciary by ensuring that within responsible fiscal limits, there are adequate resources available to deliver services. This will take leadership and a commitment to engage both the public and the legal profession in an ongoing dialogue to identify needed changes, implement those changes in a cost-effective manner and monitor the results.

Unfortunately, over the past decade, the justice system has been tarnished by the actions of a government whose public policy forays and ideological penchants for conflict have led to needless lawsuits and erosion of public trust. In our view, restoring integrity to the justice system through principled policies and effective management will play a key role in restoring overall confidence in our governance institutions. We believe this will lead to important and lasting improvements to both the social and economic fabric of our province.

What will your government do to ensure access to justice for everyone, regardless of wealth or privilege?

Improving access to justice and enhancing public confidence in the justice system can become a reality through the effective administration of justice. In our view, equal access to the justice system can be improved in a number of ways.

First, we need to find alternative ways to make justice more accessible at the community level. We need to bring court services and dispute resolution closer to the community by all means possible – from using technological advances to maintaining local court facilities.

Second, we need to look at the affordability of the justice system. Longer trials, significant backlogs for small claims court, complex litigation processes, the proliferation of justice related programming and increasing quasi-judicial costs have added to the taxpayer burden and negatively impacted access. At the same time court user fees and legal costs continue to rise, while funding of key services such as legal aid remains flat. Economic renewal will provide some relief, however BC Liberals also believe that we need a real attitude shift in approaches to the justice system. Efforts to reduce the complexity of justice matters require commitments by government, the legal profession and the public. We are committed to improving the affordability of the justice system as a means of improving accessibility.

Third, we need to look at ways of improving efficiencies in the judicial system. By reducing court backlogs and delays, looking at new means of delivering services, simplifying judicial processes and focussing resources on key priorities, BC Liberals believe that improving the efficiency of the judiciary can lead directly to service improvements and greater accessibility to the justice system.

What are the top three things lawyers should keep in mind when voting?

I’ll resist the temptation to ask your readers to focus on the past decade of NDP incompetence and instead ask them to look to the future and answer for themselves the following questions:

• Which party do you think will do the best job at restoring economic prosperity to British Columbia?

• Which party do you think will provide the management competence needed to protect and restore our key social programs such as health care, education and justice services?

• Overall, which party do you think best reflects your views on how to provide the policies and leadership needed to reform and restore integrity to our public institutions?

This article was published in the April 2001 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.