Canadian Lawyer

8 M A Y 2 0 1 6 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m C E N T R A L P rovincial Crown prosecutors in Quebec will get a 10-per-cent salary increase over the next four years. They will receive a 2.5-per-cent annual increase each year until 2018-2019, which will make them among the best-paid civil servants in the province, according to La Presse. The job of assessing the Crown prosecutors' salaries was given to an independent committee created in the wake of the difficult negotiations between the government and its 450 Crowns in 2011. At the time, the gov- ernment was offering a six-per-cent increase, spread over a period of five years, while the prosecutors were asking for 40 per cent. They went on strike, but they were swiftly forced back to work by special legislation. The climate was one of a crisis and it was impeding the fight against organized crime. The Barreau du Québec denounced the adoption of the back-to-work bill that led to the mass resignations of chief prosecutors and their deputies, including the head of the organized crime bureau. Consequently, the famous SharQc operation, the big- gest anti-bikers operation in the history of the province, which had the task of prosecuting 156 members of the Hells Angels, was jeopardized. Six of the 16 prosecutor positions were unfilled for lack of candidates, while the defence included some 60 lawyers, many of them among the most experienced in the province. Their fees, paid by the state, were three times those of the Crown prosecutors. The crisis was eventually resolved by an agreement that allowed a 20-per-cent salary increase and created the "Comité de la rémunération des procureurs aux poursuites criminelles et pénales," which would put in place a mechanism similar to the one used to determine the salar- ies of judges. In return, the association of Crown attorneys agreed to drop its challenge of the special law and its suit before the United Nations' International Labour Office. It also renounced its right to strike. A September 2011 article in Le Devoir reported that the lowest-level salary would increase to $53,047 in 2015 from $44,384 in 2011 and, at the highest level, to $106,942 from $89,478 for the same period. The committee recommended the actual 10-per-cent increase in its September 2015 report, but the government was in no hurry to Quebec Crowns to get 10% salary hike over 4 years \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP A DAILY BLOG OF CANADIAN LEGAL NEWS LEGALFEEDS.CA FEEDS LEGAL POWERED BY Untitled-4 1 2016-04-19 4:02 PM

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