Facing growing pressure, Quebec tabled a bill that would impose a three-year moratorium on certain types of evictions and increase protections for low-income senior renters.
A new bill that seeks to curb delays in the justice system and rein in stays of proceedings will be conferring new powers to the justices of the peace by allowing them to oversee criminal court appearances and bail hearings, a development that has received lukewarm praise by Quebec’s main legal actors who were longing for more monies into the system.
The Quebec government, in an initiative welcomed by business and labour, is in the final stages of passing legislation that aims to further prevent and fight psychological harassment and sexual violence in the workplace by adding legal presumptions to make it easier to prove an employment injury or illness stemmed from violence at the hands of a co-worker or employer representative.
A comprehensive legislative reform of the municipal court system recently introduced by the Quebec government has drawn mixed reactions, with the legal community applauding the initiative but equally concerned that it may undermine judicial and institutional independence of municipal courts.