TORONTO - Statistics on bail violations, wait times for criminal and civil trials, plea bargain results and other judicial decisions will be collected under proposed legislation that Ontario's opposition Conservatives would like to see adopted in the province.

"We want to open it up so that people can see what's happening, get the facts on the table across the province and report them to the public," Conservative leader John Tory told members of the provincial legislature after introducing his proposed truth and transparency in the justice system private member's bill in the Ontario legislature yesterday.

As is tradition, the bill passed first reading, but opposition from the government suggests it isn't going to go any further.

"This is an effort to try and politicize the judiciary and the prosecution, and that certainly has been opposed for centuries in this country," Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant told reporters. "(This is) an attempt to somehow make judges and prosecutors accountable to the public. I say legislators and governments are accountable to the public and that the way to make changes to our justice system is not to try and in some way intimidate or otherwise interfere with the independent discretion of prosecutors and the judiciary."

Mr. Bryant said the data the Conservatives want collected could create the impression that people aren't going to get a fair trial from judges who want to improve the "report cards" that will be made available to the public.

Mr. Tory, however, insisted that the data would be collected on a provincewide basis and therefore could not be abused.

To suggest the information could compromise the impartiality of the justice system, he said, is "excuse-making of the highest order.

"If we really feel that judges were so weak that they can't make their decisions regardless of what statistics are published, then we should also look at banning editorials on the justice system because that might influence or cause a judge to tremble in his or her boots before passing sentence or approving a plea-bargain deal."
© The Ottawa Citizen 2006