Traditionally, the city of Chilliwack has never been at the top of the B.C. NDP's agenda.
Perhaps that's because there has never been an NDP MLA representing the Fraser Valley community.
But things are changing now that there's a chance that the Opposition could make its first political breakthrough in that area of the province.
Today, NDP Leader Adrian Dix opened question period by pointing out that a by-election will soon be called in Chilliwack. [Actually, it will be in the constituency of Chilliwack-Hope, which was represented by former attorney general Barry Penner from 1996 until his resignation last year.]
Later in question period, NDP public-safety critic Kathy Corrigan zeroed in on delays in Chilliwack Provincial Court.
"Chilliwack has the longest trial delays among B.C.'s provincial courts," Corrigan said, according to the transcript from the Hansard blues. "On average, there's a 16-month delay to find the next available court date."
Then, Corrigan declared that after a "51-month delay" in an impaired-driving case, Judge Wendy Young issued a stay of proceedings on January 30.
"Worse, in this case the accused was first convicted, then still walked free because of the delay," Corrigan said. "Judge Young noted that 'there has been institutional or systemic delay of approximately 33 months.' Almost three years of delay directly attributed by the judge to a system in crisis."
Corrigan eventually got around to asking a question about what will be done to address the "intolerable crisis", but not before remarking that "the government had sat for almost six months on a scathing audit that said the justice system is in a mess caused by the B.C. Liberal government".
Attorney general Shirley Bond replied that there needs to be a "look at the broader system", while acknowledging that any stay of proceedings is "unacceptable".
"Every year in British Columbia over 100,000 cases go through courts in this province," Bond claimed. "Stays represent one-tenth of one percent. Is that acceptable? No, it's not. But in fact, 99.9 percent of cases in British Columbia come to a conclusion, and it's actually time that the members opposite had a constructive dialogue with us about how we can deal with systemic reform in a system badly in need of change."
Corrigan followed up by saying there were 109 stays, and then started banging the law-and-order drum, which is popular in places like Chilliwack.
"We have Internet predators going free; we have drunk drivers going free," Corrigan stated. "That is not acceptable. It's not acceptable to the victims of these crimes."
Corrigan went on to claim that "Chilliwack faces a litany of problems in its courts", including "the longest delays in B.C. in child protection hearings" at an average of eight months. Chilliwack also has, according to Corrigan, the "longest delays in family trials — an average of 10 months of delays", as well as the longest delays for adult criminal two-day trials.
Bond responded: "As I've said and will continue to say, any stay is unacceptable, but let me share an example. Recently, there was a case that took 88 days—17½ weeks of a judge's time. What were they doing? Discussing the admissibility of wiretap, before the case even started—88 days. Is that acceptable to the member opposite? Because those are the kinds of things that happen in stays all across the province."
This probably won't be the last we hear of Chilliwack in question period.
Highlighting the B.C. Liberals' weakness on law-and-order issues in Chilliwack has the potential to do three things:
• Drive B.C. Liberal voters to support the NDP.
• Persuade B.C. Liberal voters to side with the B.C. Conservatives, which would help the NDP's objective of winning the 2013 provincial election.
• Convince B.C. Liberal voters to sit out the by-election, boosting the chances of the NDP and the B.C. Conservative candidates.