[LabComm] REALITY CHECK

[BC NDP NEWSWIRE]

REALITY CHECK

The Facts Regarding Legal Aid under the Campbell Liberals

Attorney General Geoff Plant says that $4.6 million in additional money 
announced today for legal aid will improve legal services to the poor, 
women, and immigrants.

  With just 14 weeks until the election, the Attorney General and the 
Premier are hoping that $4.6 million will soften the political damage 
from their government's mean-spirited cuts to legal aid.

  Here are the facts regarding legal aid under the Campbell government:

  - In 2002, Plant cut the budget for legal aid by $34 million, or 40 
per cent of the budget.

  - Citing the hardship this cut would cause to the poor, particularly 
poor women, the BC Legal Services Society refused to implement the cut 
and took a vote of non-confidence in the Attorney General.

  - A study by West Coast LEAF showed that the Campbell government's 
cuts to legal aid have disproportionately hurt women (Legal Aid Denied: 
Women and the Cuts to Legal Services in BC, September 2004).

  - Attorney-General Plant himself admitted at the time that single 
mothers, poor workers and renters would suffer as a result of his cuts 
to legal aid: "We won't maintain the level of service…I expect there 
will be people who will have an even harder time finding access to 
justice than before." (Vancouver Sun, Jan 31 2002)

  - Today's announcement hardly makes a dent in that cut. According to 
Legal Services Society Executive Director Mark Benton, today's 
announcement: "won't match the range of services cut" in 2002 by the 
Campbell government.

  - The continuation of immigrant and refugee legal aid funding is only 
for one year, and Plant admitted his government only agreed to provide 
this funding at the request of the federal government.


  - 30 -

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