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The B.C. Liberal Party’s stewardship of the provincial justice system for nearly 16 years has left it teetering on the brink of crisis, says the Canadian Bar Association, B.C. Branch.

In a 26-page document, titled Agenda for Justice, meant to provoke discussion in the upcoming election campaign, the lawyers’ lobby group says more public money must be invested in the legal system — especially legal aid.

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“We’ve reached a point here where the continuing cuts, the continuing grinding it to the bone and trying to be more innovative with less money has reached the point where nothing further can really be done there,” said branch president Michael Welsh.

Legal aid funding slashed under the Liberals in their first term, for example, still has not returned to the levels of the last NDP government, which was defeated at the polls in 2001.

“It’s like a car,” Welsh, a Penticton lawyer, said. “If you don’t put the money into fixing the car when it’s broken, you’re not going to have a car any longer. It’s the same with the legal aid system. The core services have been starved for about a decade and a half now. And it’s time to change that.”