I am very happy to report that the provincial government has found it necessary to put itself in my files and guide me with respect to how I should conduct my clients’ civil litigation.

(See “New year ushers in changes to civil justice system,” Law Times, Jan. 4, 2010.)
I am further happy to report that Premier Dalton McGuinty will perhaps also want to come to my office, sit in my desk, and give me advice on how to move a lawsuit along because, in his opinion, I am taking too long.

I am glad to report as well that, instead of helping us over the last four or five years, this government made amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure that likely require 74 new steps in any proposed litigation.

As practising lawyers, we are now faced with the prospect of judges coming into our files and telling us when to schedule discoveries; how long to take; what we are supposed to do when we get there; what kinds of documents we should be agreeing to exchange; and how fast we should get our medical reports to satisfy pretrial arrangements.

At the end of the day, I am all for government regulation and I believe in a liberal democratic society. But this attorney general and his predecessors have, in my opinion, created a micromanaged court process that will in fact come to a grinding halt because of the incredibly large number of rules and the need to inject governmental authority into lawyers’ practices.