I spoke too soon when I congratulated the Criminal Lawyers Association on convincing Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley to boost funding to Legal Aid Ontario to the tune of $150-million over the next four years.

It turns out that the battle will be continuing. Despite the funding boost, the Criminal Lawyers Association board has voted in favour of maintaining the boycott of legal aid.

Frank Addario, President of the CLA, argues that the cash infusion is merely a stop-gap measure which does not address the underlying concerns of the criminal defence bar. In a communique to Association members, Addario pointed out that when broken down, legal aid lawyers would be receiving a raise of 5% or less over the next four years.

This wouldn’t come close to correcting the income disparity between legal aid lawyers and Crown attorneys. It also wouldn’t address the many years of funding freeze and funding rollback that sparked the boycott in the first place. Addario explains:

If the population, the crime rate, the complexity of cases and inflation all remain stable in the next 4 years a 20% increase in funding will not eliminate the 60% loss against inflation since 1987.

Besides the money, there were other important reasons for the board’s decision to maintain the boycott. Expect a formal announcement later this week or next.