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a surety and the Crown agrees but wants the endorsement to read that it was pri- marily because of his criminal record, he'd only be entitled to one-for-one pretrial credit. "So now we're going to have a bail hearing, even though my client has no intention of seeking release, just to deter- mine whether the reason for detention is 9.1 primarily because of a criminal record. So, in a busy bail court, where they have 50 bail hearings to get through, I'm going to suck up an hour or two of that precious time just so that we can litigate that issue as opposed to letting the Crown make that argument at the sentencing hearing." Lafontaine says Green's ruling "per- mits more flexibility and arguably more leniency by the way it's interpreted the legislation, which is more truthful. Justice Green has a great deal of credibility. He is a highly respected judge. . . . His analysis is extensive, it's compelling, it's very tight in terms of having legal justification for everything that is said. I think it's going to end up being adopted by many judges." Lawyers across the country can look to it "because they can say, 'It's a great inter- pretive aid in terms of how you look at this new section.' There isn't a lot of juris- prudence in existence that includes an extensive analysis of the new law. Justice Green addresses the constitutional issues and performs an extensive interpreta- tion of the statute. His interpretation is the only one in Canada at present where all the legal legwork has been done; the heavy lifting of doing all the research and then crafting together a well-reasoned, intelligent, articulate, easy-to-understand guide of the section." Lafontaine predicts Johnson will be "widely relied upon because sentencing hearings are one of the bread-and-butter aspects of the work of criminal lawyers. PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY There are countless sentencing hear- ings every day and many, many of those hearings involve a consideration of pre- trial custody. Judges are already being asked to interpret the new provisions and Johnson is going to be passed up to the dais all over the country, literally as often as thousands of times a week." The bottom line, says Lafontaine: "The judiciary traditionally awarded enhanced credit to ensure that one day in pretrial custody equaled a day spent serving a sentence. To have any hope of achieving that equality, a day in pretrial custody must, at the least, be counted as 1.5 days. Johnson serves as a new source of hope that there can once again be both truth and fairness in sentencing." And what of Johnson? He was sen- tenced to 18 months in jail, and factoring in the 1.5 credit, was ordered released the next day. ntitled-5 1 Supreme Court of Canada Counsel and Agency Services Henry S. Brown, QC Brian A. Crane, QC Guy Régimbald Martin W. Mason Graham Ragan Matthew Estabrooks Eduard J. Van Bemmel, Law Clerk 4/6/09 4:20:13 PM montréal ottawa toronto hamilton waterloo region 160 Elgin StreetSuite 2600OttawaOntarioK1P 1C3T 613-233-1781 calgary vancouver moscow london www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com M AY 2011 53 ntitled-5 1 12/13/10 3:13:40 PM