Prosecution services can't withstand more cuts: Crown Counsel Association

The B.C. Crown Counsel Association is raising concerns that projected cuts of nearly 100 jobs to the province's prosecution services will have a serious impact on the existing court backlog and on future cases.

Association president Steve Fudge, whose group represents about 400 Crown prosecutors, said Wednesday that any trimming in the court system will slow things down even more.

"We run a pretty tight ship, and I just don't see how we can lose 100 bodies and still function at the level we're trying to function at today," Fudge told CBC News.

The provincial budget released Tuesday outlines nearly $10 million in projected cuts to court and prosecution services by 2012, including 100 fewer full-time positions.

Last Friday, Premier Gordon Campbell had promised the government would bring in 10 new prosecutors and 168 more police over the next two years, as well as more courtrooms, in an attempt to crack down on gangs and gun violence linked to the illegal drug trade.

The mixed messages show that the Liberal government is not making crime-fighting its priority, Opposition leader Carole James said.

"The premier stood up on Friday and said that was one of the most critical issues to deal with, is the gang violence we're seeing," James said Tuesday.

"Well, as we saw today, they actually cut the budget. They cut the budget for prosecutors and cut the budget for crime and safety. Unbelievable."

Finance Minister Colin Hansen did not dispute there will be cuts to prosecution services, but he said the axe won't fall on frontline staff.

"We are looking at areas of discretionary spending that we are not going to do in the coming years so that we can re-deploy that money where it's needed most," Hansen said.

Attorney General Wally Oppal said he's uneasy about the projected cuts, but he promised court cases will be prosecuted.

"We've never ever compromised prosecution services… where we have been in financial difficulty," Oppal said Wednesday. 

"We'll find a way to meet our obligations, and the public can rest assured that we're not going to withdraw charges or not prosecute particular offenses."

Oppal said the budget is a worst-case scenario for tough economic times and the projections could change before 2012.

"We've always managed to come up with money either through contingencies or otherwise," he said.