TORONTO - A former provincial chief justice will help conduct a review of how large and complex criminal cases are handled by Ontario's justice system, but the project won't look into how the province bungled one of the largest cases of police corruption in Canadian history.
Attorney General Chris Bentley dismissed suggestions that the review was prompted by the high-profile case in making the announcement Monday.
Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer stayed charges against six former members of the Toronto police drug squad last month, blaming the prosecution's "glacial pace'' for violating the rights of the accused officers to a timely trial.
Bentley is appealing that ruling, but opposition critics and the Ontario Criminal Lawyers' Association say there should be a public inquiry into the province's handling of the case.
The review also won't address the high-profile corruption case or any others currently "in the system,'' Bentley said.
"Every criminal case involves a right of review, of decisions made along the way,'' he added.
"It's entirely appropriate that that review be conducted by the independent body which, in that case, is the Court of Appeal. We are not going to, in any way, shape or form, compromise that review.''
The exclusion of the corruption case from the review drew fire from opposition critics, who said the Liberals are whitewashing the affair.
"The government first hid behind their appeal of that very sound Nordheimer decision, and is now hiding behind these two very credible legal minds to avoid responsibility and accountability for this government's bungling of those serious criminal charges against those police officers,'' said NDP justice critic Peter Kormos.
Progressive Conservative critic Christine Elliott said a public inquiry is still needed to examine the province's criminal justice system.
"I think that it's a pattern with this government that they try to pretend there isn't a problem until it can't be ignored anymore, and then they finally come out and do the right thing,'' she said in an interview from Whitby, Ont.
"I'm concerned that (the review) is not going to really deal with the issues that need to be dealt with, which is, what happened with this particular case, and what other problems do we have in our justice system.''
The review, to be completed by the summer, will provide recommendations on how to move such cases more quickly and effectively through the justice system, Bentley said. The recommendations could include new policies for Crown prosecutors and specific federal reforms, he added.
Patrick LeSage, a retired judge who presided over sex killer Paul Bernardo's 1995 trial, will be leading the review along with University of Toronto professor Michael Code, a former assistant deputy attorney general.
LeSage had previously conducted a review of Ontario's police complaints system, which was completed in 2005. He said he has noticed over the years that trials have taken longer than when he was a prosecutor in the 1960s and 1970s.
"Trials are just different,'' LeSage said. "Maybe to some extent, some might say they're not as focused maybe, in some cases, as they could possibly be. But that's a matter of judgment.''
The recommendations will be targeted mainly to attorneys, not judges, LeSage said.
"I'm not going to be here, nor is Professor Code, to tell the judges how to run the court system,'' he said.
"However, we might, in consultation with the judiciary ... we may come up with some recommendations that could be of some benefit to them as well, although that is not the purpose of this review.''
