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REGIONAL WRAP-UP CENTRAL GOVERNMENT, CROWNS MAKE PEACE A fter a bitter labour dispute that saw back-to-work legislation and imposed wage increases following a two-week strike in February, Quebec's Crown prosecutors have made peace with the government. Under an agreement-in-principle overwhelmingly approved in October by the association representing some 470 provincial Crown prosecutors, and to be sealed with a new law expected by Nov. 15, the lawyers will receive salary hikes ranging from 15 per cent to 35 per cent, depending on experience and assignment, and will have a new system for future contract negotiations similar to that in place for provincial judges. "It is a historic agreement," says Christian Leblanc, president of the Association des procureurs aux poursuites criminelles et pénales. "What is most important for most prosecutors about it is not only the financial aspect but that we have obtained a new form of determining our remuneration that recognizes our quasi-judicial status." (Prosecutors are excluded from the labour code and cannot contribute to political parties, take partisan positions, or have a second job to ensure their independence before the public.) Instead of the Quebec Treasury Board, as of the next round of negotiations for April 2015, it will be members of the provincial legislature, the National Assembly, that vote on rec- ommendations of a three-member committee — composed of one representative suggested by each of the parties and a president named in consultation with Quebec's chief justice. The government and the Crown prosecutors' association will present their positions on working conditions to the commit- tee, which can call upon specialists before making its recom- mendations to the National Assembly. On the salary front, prosecutors will receive a 15-per- cent to 17.9-per-cent increase retroactive to April 2011, then a further seven per cent for the addition of two and a half hours to their current 35-hour work week once the new law is enacted. The first two levels of the pay scale will be elimi- nated, meaning the starting salary will go from $44,383 to $50,000 and there are specified financial bonuses for those who work on special units like the one for organized crime, in remote areas, or positions that require constant travelling. The increase in pay and the new status will go a long way toward solving the problem of recruiting lawyers to serve the Crown and retaining experienced prosecutors, says Leblanc. As well, Crown prosecutors have agreed to discontinue ongoing legal challenges to back-to-work legislation in return for a one-time payment of $7,500 to each prosecutor once the new law is adopted. — KL QUEBEC JUSTICE PLAN FOCUSES ON RESOLUTION P ublic hearings will begin in Quebec early in the new year on a major justice reform project that will significantly change how judges, lawyers, and citizens interact in the court system. The Justice Access Plan, unveiled by Quebec Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier on Sept. 29, squarely puts the emphasis on the resolution of disputes through intervention early on in the judicial process to promote negotiation and mediation instead of the tradi- tional adversarial system. The centerpiece of the plan to modernize and streamline the sys- tem is an overhauled version of Quebec's Code of Civil Procedure, the list of rules that dictate the steps to be followed in court cases that are not criminal or penal in nature and outline the obligations of the players. Article 1 of the draft bill to enact the new code, which Fournier aims to have adopted into law by next June, states that "parties must consider private modes of prevention and resolution before referring their dispute to the court." "For lawyers, it's a big evolution, some will say a revolution," said Fournier at the news conference held to introduce the multi-pronged approach to make justice in Quebec "more accessible, simpler, less costly, and more user-friendly." Under the proposed rules of practice, judges would have a more active role to play to make sure lawyers and their clients, or self- represented litigants, consider alternate modes of dispute resolution, including judge-supervised sessions, as soon as the parties appear in court instead of after court filings and hearings as is most often the case now. Judges would also have tighter control over the court process, armed with new rules that put limits on procedures like pretrial motions, witness examinations, and the use of experts. Indeed, the draft bill for the new code stipulates that the court may "at any stage of the proceeding take measures to simplify or expedite the proceed- ing and shorten the trial by ruling." "We don't have more power, but we do have more powers to manage a case," says François Rolland, chief justice of the Quebec Superior Court. "That will help the parties get to trial as quickly as possible and at a lower cost." Case management conferences, during which lawyers would have to spell out time estimates and intentions for evidence, witnesses, and experts, would become the norm for all cases, not just for big com- mercial or class action files. To a certain extent, the new code formalizes alternatives to long and costly trials already employed on an experi- mental basis with high success rates in both the Quebec Superior Court and the Court of Quebec. For 8 N O VEMBER / D ECEMBER 2011 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com Get all the details on Quebec's Justice Access Plan at en glish/ministr www.justic e/pa j/inde e.g ouv.qc.c x.htm. a/