TORONTO - Ambitious targets will set by the province to cut down on the number of "unproductive'' court appearances that are draining resources and slowing down Ontario's already strained criminal justice system, Attorney General Chris Bentley said Thursday.

"When you recognize that six of the nine appearances are adjournments, which don't substantially advance a case, there's an opportunity there to refocus, refocus those resources in more effective ways,'' Bentley said following a speech to law students at the University of Toronto.

The glacial pace of justice in Ontario courtrooms has come under the microscope in recent weeks after charges were stayed in a high-profile police corruption case because it took too long to come to trail.

Bentley, a former criminal and labour lawyer, wouldn't provide any details of his latest plan to help speed up the system, but promised there was more to come in the following weeks.

He noted that it takes nearly twice as long for criminal cases to be completed than it did 15 years ago and the number of court appearances has more than doubled.

Last year, it took an average of 205 days to complete a criminal case in Ontario, up from 115 days in 1992, Bentley said. Those charged with criminal offences make an average of nine courtroom appearances before the case is completed, up from four in 1992.

Appearances can include bail hearings, setting court dates, pre-trial and preliminary hearings, as well as trial dates. But most appearances involve simply adjourning the case for another day, which doesn't move it forward, he said.

With 600,000 criminal charges in the system at any one time, even one extra adjournment for each charge is gobbling up precious courtroom time and financial resources, Bentley said.

"There's an enormous cumulative cost to this,'' he said in his speech.

"No system will work as well, as effectively as it should, if you put twice the number of people in it.''

Opposition critics say the government's plan to crack down on adjournments is a ploy to distract the public from its embarrassment over the botched police corruption case and the many other problems clogging up the system.

Legal Aid in Ontario is in "crisis,'' with women in particular unable to obtain lawyers to represent them in family court to protect them and their children from abuse, said NDP critic Peter Kormos.

"The other cloud that continues to hang over the Ministry of the Attorney General is the scandalous failure of the attorney general to properly prosecute serious charges against police officers in Canada's most dramatic police corruption case,'' he said.

Bentley dismissed calls for a public inquiry into the province's handling of the case involving six former Toronto police officers, and launched an appeal of the decision instead.

Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer stayed the charges in January, blaming the prosecution for proceeding so slowly that it violated the rights of the accused officers to a timely trial.

Last week, Bentley announced that prominent former provincial chief justice Patrick LeSage and law professor Michael Code will help conduct a review of how large and complex criminal cases are handled by Ontario's justice system.

The attorney general acknowledged that review won't look the corruption case, or any other case currently before the courts.

Those who work in Ontario's justice system deserve more than a "statement of the obvious'' from Bentley, said Progressive Conservative critic Christine Elliott.

"I think there are bigger systemic issues,'' she said. "So it's just a question of putting a Band-Aid on here and a Band-Aid on there.''

Bentley is "doing the right thing'' by looking at ways to reduce the number of steps and expenses associated with criminal cases, said Frank Addario, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association.

"He's right, they're too expensive, they're useless and they subtract resources from things that ensure the justice system is producing high-quality results,'' he said.

The province also needs to "refocus'' on the issue of providing disclosure to defence counsel as quickly as possible by giving police more resources to speed up the process, Addario said.

It should also have senior Crown prosecutors manage cases in the initial stages and ensure an adequately funded Legal Aid system, he added.