This is a market failure:

An Ontario court stayed charges of conspiracy, perjury and obstruction against six Toronto Police drug squad officers this week, after the defence asked for the case to be dismissed on the basis of unreasonable delay.
Court backlog exemplified by staying of charges against T.O. cops — Toronto Sun

but when we can not hide the fact that the government itself is the cause, we call it “backlog” instead.

In fine NDP fashion, more bureaucracy is offered as a solution:

“And this reinforces the need for a public inquiry into the recent staying of charges against Toronto police officers so we can understand exactly what’s happening in the ministry of the attorney general and in the criminal courts.”

to which I say: “No surprise there from the NDP.” I am a cynic and I doubt whether a public inquiry will ever make a difference.

In fine bureaucratic fashion, the Attorney General throws money at the bureaucracy:

Since becoming attorney general last fall, Bentley said he has been working on a number of initiatives to roll out over the next few months to help resolve the backlog problem.
Over the past four years, the ministry has added 24 appointees to the Ontario Court of Justice and created 150 more Crown attorney positions. Half of 40 new Crowns hires went to the clogged Scarborough and Brampton courts.

to which I ask: “What do you expect him to do?” When all you have is a hammer and a screw-driver, everything just looks like it needs to be either nailed or screwed. However, I will still hold him to it. In a few years from now, I wonder what will be next. Will we hear new excuses like “We just do not have the space anymore!” or new solutions calling for the construction of more court houses?

Two things irk me:

1) This backlog is old. Everybody in that justice system saw this coming and those who did not should slap themselves. If we look at the statistics, the bureaucracy went up and the backlog went up. What gives?

2) How are cases chosen? Since there is a backlog, a decision must be made about whether to pursue one case over an other case. Are severe crimes chosen over minor crimes? or Are slam-dunk cases chosen over less predictable cases? I have no idea. Maybe somebody from that office can tell us. Whatever it is, I can tell you for certain that my taxes pay for it.

—-

Try the following mental exercise: replace “justice” with “health care” and tell me what you get.
Answer: two-tiered health care flourishes in response to the market failure created by the government.

I am more than just a cynic because I genuinely would rather they just leave the “backlog” alone. Something else should be done about this: reduce their workload and stop making everything illegal.