SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Laura Smith

  • MPP
  • Member of Provincial Parliament
  • Thornhill
  • Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
  • Ontario
  • Centre Street Square Unit 4 1136 Centre St. Thornhill, ON L4J 3M8
  • tel: 905-731-1178
  • fax: tre Street Sq
  • Laura.Smith@pc.ola.org

  • Government Page
  • Mar/21/23 4:10:00 p.m.
  • Re: Bill 46 

I appreciate the member’s statement and her providing the information about her experiences, but as a part of our commitment to break down the long-standing barriers in justice specifically—and as we were talking earlier, the system previously was literally paper-based. It was not up to date. It was not in a place where it was going to be moving efficiently for very much longer.

Our government is moving more services online by investing in technology and improving processes to deliver a better experience for prospective jurors. Not only will this reduce administrative costs, but it will make it easier for jurors to participate in the court system no matter where they live.

Will the member opposite agree that moving from the paper format to a digital-first experience would benefit the judicial system?

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  • Nov/29/22 9:20:00 a.m.

As an individual who has dealt and worked within the courts system for a number of years, I was very happy to see a modernizing of the juror system with respect to the composition. I continuously get calls from constituents asking about this specific issue. So the ministry recently identified two issues that have affected the composition of jury rolls in Ontario. How are you working to prevent these errors from happening in the future? Is this the right time to implement further changes to the jury system?

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