B.C.

If British Columbia's crime rate and legal case loads are going down, why are court delays and costs going up?

The question has prompted a wholesale review of the provincial justice system, a system a B.C. top judge has already warned is in peril because of lack of funding.

Critics say the time for study is long over, and that Premier Christy Clark's announcement Wednesday to review the crisis is "a bit like asking the corpse to sing."

Clark said Wednesday she expected the review might set off some criticism.

"In this case, we are not going to close our eyes and decide it's only money that is the problem," the premier told reporters after she announced the study.

The number of new provincial court cases going into the system, both for adult and youth, is down and figures show B.C.'s crime rate has dropped by 33 per cent over six years. Yet spending is increasing every year.

"We need to get to the bottom of that."

On Tuesday, the B.C. government announced the appointment of nine new judges to the provincial court, but that still doesn't bring the number of judges back to the 2005 level.

Several provincial court judges have been especially critical of lack of government funding for new judges in their rulings.

A convicted cocaine dealer, a man accused of killing a little boy's puppy and many others have walked free because their cases took too long to get to trial.

Last year, 109 cases were stayed because of court delays, almost double the number in 2010.

Government statistics also found there are about 2,500 criminal cases that have been before the provincial court for 18 months or more.

Further slowing the system is unprecedented job action by B.C.'s Trial Lawyers Association over what it says is a lack of funding for legal aid.

Escalating job action is planned through to April in dozens of provincial courts. The trial lawyers are angry that the provincial government collects a tax on lawyers fees meant for legal aid, yet the money goes into general revenue.

Attorney General Shirley Bond, whose new job as justice minister was also announced along with the review, said that wouldn't change.

"Let's be clear about that. The tax was created in the 1990s and never has it been a dedicated tax," she said, adding B.C. spends almost $70 million a year on legal aid.

Bond will be freed of responsibilities for the Insurance Corporation of B.C., gaming and liquor to allow her to focus more on the newly-created Justice Ministry. She remains attorney general.

The government has asked Geoffrey Cowper to conduct the study and to get back to government by July.

Cowper is the former head of the Legal Services Society, the group that administers legal aid services in the province.

He will use for guidance a paper issued Wednesday by the government outlining many of the problems and suggesting areas for reform, such as addressing case management of files for Crown and judges and improving legal representation for an accused.

Bond has also asked Alberta lawyer Gary McCuaig to review of B.C.'s charge-approval process, which could mean a change of the charge process that currently sees police recommend criminal charges to the Crown and the Crown having the final say on whether charges are laid.

New Democrat Opposition Leader Adrian Dix said the Liberal government has promised reforms and conducted reviews dating back to 2007, yet nothing has been done and now the system is in crisis.

"Unfortunately, this is a government that is bereft of leadership on these questions at a time when we need better."

What we need are to put in place measures, not more reviews on top of reviews, Dix said.

NDP justice critic Leonard Krog believes the Liberal government's 40-per-cent cut to legal aid back in 2001 started a large part of the problem and funding still isn't back up to that level.

"And to turn to the Legal Service Society and now say 'Find efficiencies' is a bit like asking the corpse to sing," he said. "It is totally unrealistic to ask for further efficiencies from the Legal Services Society, just as it is to ask the Crown to do a better job when you cut the number of prosecutors."

B.C.'s top judges issued a joint news release in response to the announced review, saying suggestions for improvements to the system merit serious consideration.

Chief Justice Land Finch, Chief Justice Robert Bauman and Chief Judge Thomas Crabtree cautioned that the system works under a constitutional framework.

"That framework places certain responsibilities on the participants and is founded on an independent judiciary," the statement said.

Last November, Bauman said in a speech to the Canadian Bar Association that the justice system is threatened, if not in peril, and is slowly being eroded by a lack of funding.