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Bill C-75 promises to speed up court cases by eliminating preliminary hearings for all but the most serious matters. Also, quietly slipped into the bill is a provision that would allow Crown prosecutors to simply file written copies of police officers’ evidence instead of actually calling them at trial to testify. Not only will these changes waste more court time than they save, they will erode fundamental safeguards of trial fairness.

Preliminary hearings account for only about three per cent of all court time. In that context, Wilson-Raybould’s claim that her legislation will reduce their use by 87 per cent sounds a bit less inspiring. What Wilson-Raybould conveniently leaves out is that preliminary hearings not only increase fairness but actually save court time by weeding out weak cases, focusing trials and increasing the likelihood of guilty pleas. Under the new rules, more cases will go to trial and those trials will be longer and less focused. Wilson-Raybould has inexplicably chosen to prefer policy-based-evidence-making over evidence-based-policy-making.

Under the new rules, more cases will go to trial and those trials will be longer and less focused.

Fairness seems to be taking a backseat to expediency on Wilson-Raybould’s priority list. In an out-of-the-blue change, the new bill would shield police officers from cross-examination in some cases. If an accused wants to actually ask a police officer any questions they will need to apply to the trial judge for permission. Here is a prediction: These applications will always be granted; that is just how oppressive and odious Wilson-Raybould’s new rule is. But of course, all of those applications to ask questions of police officers will eat up court time and cause more delays.