Minister tight-lipped about prosecutors’ grievance, but chatty about who’s to blame

The justice minister said Thursday he can’t discuss an arbitration case in which Crown attorneys blasted the government for trying to keep a report on excessive workload out of an upcoming grievance hearing.

Matt Wiebe wouldn’t say whether Manitoba’s justice system needs more Crown prosecutors, but was happy to discuss who he said is to blame for the Crown attorneys’ grievance.

The NDP minister noted the complaint was made by the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys in 2023 when the Progressive Conservatives were in power.

The PCs “had not even acknowledged or begun the process of sitting down with the Crown attorneys to begin to deal with that grievance,” Wiebe said Thursday.

The PCs had, in fact, responded to the grievance just months before losing the 2023 election by pledging $3.4 million to increase the number of Crown attorneys and support staff.

“We, of course, came to the table right away and negotiated a fair contract where we increased the pay of our Crown attorneys by 14 per cent with back pay,” the minister said.

PC justice critic Wayne Balcaen said the NDP doesn’t want to hear about the excessive workload faced by Crown attorneys now that it’s in charge.

“For a government that touts being a listening government, they don’t want to listen to the Crown attorneys,” the former Brandon police chief said. “They don’t want to listen to a report and a survey that their own Crown attorneys took. They want to block that from being part of any hearings,” Balcaen said.

On Wednesday, arbitrator Michael Werier ruled against the province by allowing the report to be admitted at the grievance hearing set for Nov. 23.

The document, which was commissioned by the association, expands on a 2023 survey of Crown attorneys about their workload and health issues. The association intends to rely on the survey and report to show that the province has failed to address the longstanding problem.

The NDP has hired at least 62 Crown prosecutors since forming government, according to the minister’s press secretary.

“Under the PCs, they were some of the lowest-paid Crown attorneys in the country,” Wiebe said.

Since taking office, the union has raised pay, added support staff and other court-related programs to relieve some of the pressure on Crown attorneys.

“What I can say is that we worked very hard at resetting the relationship with our Crown attorneys,” said the minister, who praised their work ethic and dedication.

“I have met such great folks who are doing this work — doing amazing work day in and day out, and they work very, very hard, and they do it for the right reasons,” Wiebe said.

Communication with the government has improved over the last three years but the prosecutors’ concerns haven’t been acted upon, said union vice-president Ben Wickstrom.

“They continue to deny there is a workload problem in our office, despite all the evidence to the contrary,” he said Thursday. “This includes increases in electronic disclosure and changes to the Criminal Code that have significantly increased the work of prosecutors.”

Turnover in the last several years has been “tremendous,” Wickstrom said.

“Our position is that we need additional people…The NDP government has not announced a single (net) new prosecutor since they formed government three years ago.”

Wickstrom said 50 additional prosecutors are needed.

Balcaen said he’s met with Crown prosecutors and knows they’re under pressure.

“If we’re holding more people in custody and if we’re working towards (bail reform), we’re going to need more Crown attorneys for bail hearings and for bail applications to move the system forward,” the Tory critic said.

Balcaen said he’s concerned the lack of Crown attorneys will lead to “justice delayed and justice denied.”

Wiebe said his department is “staffing up and building on resources as much as possible to ensure timely access and fair access to justice.” That is going to take time, the minister said.

“There is a lot of need from the years of cuts under the PCs.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca