Bill C-75

According to the federal government, “[u]se of the procedure varies across provinces, and its purpose has been significantly reduced by the obligation on the Crown to provide the accused with all evidence relating to his or her charges.”11 As well, there was a “lively debate” about the very nature and value of preliminary inquiries in the course of the study into court delays by the Standing Senat [...] As well, under amended section 537 of the Code, a justice acting in the course of a preliminary inquiry may “regulate the course of the inquiry in any way that appears to the justice to be desirable, including to promote a fair and expeditious inquiry” (clause 244(1)). [...] Clauses 188 and 189 remove the requirement in sections 482(2) and 482.1(5) for the rules of court and the case management rules to be “subject to the approval of the lieutenant governor in council of the relevant province.” Clause 188 also removes the requirement that such rules be published in the Canada Gazette, so that they simply need to be publicly available. [...] The bill standardizes the timing for all types of offences: the time of the appearance of the accused at which their trial date is set (new sections 530(1) and 530(2) of the Code). [...] When deciding to authorize the use of telecommunication as part of the proceeding, the judge must consider a list of factors, such as the following (new sections 715.23, 715.25 and 715.26): • the person’s location; • the nature of the anticipated evidence; • the costs that would be incurred by appearing in person; • the nature and seriousness of the offence; and • the accused’s right to a fair and