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million on theirs, and that's with a lot of volunteer effort," says Moir. That spirit of co-operation and collaboration is missing from the B.C. experience. Here the introduction of proposed new Supreme Court Civil Rules is outright contentious. "The core of the law society's concern with the proposed changes contained in the draft rules is that, as those proposals stand, the public has too little assur- ance that the new measures will actually reduce system costs, or will advance cases through the courts more expedi- tiously," John Hunter, then-president of the Law Society of British Columbia wrote in a letter to the justice review task force, which was established in 2002 to address concerns about access to civil justice in the province. "In our view," he added, "although the price to be paid by the public is clear, the benefits the public will get in return are, at this stage, insufficiently certain. We are not convinced that the reforms so far proposed will necessarily reduce cost and increase the efficiency of the civil justice system." The Trial Lawyers' Association of B.C. is even more outspoken in its con- cerns over the proposed Rules claiming that pending rule changes will make court cases cost more and take longer in what is already Canada's most expen- sive jurisdiction in which to seek justice. "We in B.C. are about to take a giant step backward if proposed changes to court rules are not stopped," says asso- ciation president Robert Holmes. "The cost of justice is already too high in this province, yet the B.C. government is on the brink of changing the rules in ways that will slow the system down and drive costs up, putting justice further out of reach for ordinary citizens." To show just how concerned it is, the association has mailed an information sheet to every household in the ridings of the premier and the attorney general. The one-page flyer advises citizens that the government is looking to bring in harmful, radical rule changes and is doing so without public consultation. Last September, a controversial resolution put to all members of the legal profession received overwhelming www. ntitled-1 1 mag.com APRIL 2009 47 1/21/09 2:28:57 PM