Poor legal aid demands answers

The Greens have raised the issue of legal aid on P.E.I. The lack of legal aid can be traced to the P.E.I. Supreme Court in 1999 then Justice David Jenkins ruled against it. The MacLauchlan government has remained silent about a human rights complaint regarding legal aid which was dismissed by the P.E.I. Human Rights Commission when Premier MacLauchlan was attorney general.

I have long demanded a public inquiry which has been denied by both Liberal and Conservative governments. Both political parties have received $80,000 in subsidies for election expenses but refuse to review legal aid.

I think it is time for the P.E.I. Supreme Court, Liberal and Conservative political parties to explain why P.E.I. has such a poor legal aid system when political parties are receiving taxpayers’ money themselves.

John W. A. Curtis, Summerside