'We heard from Albertans': UCP swerves away from changes to Alberta's traffic court

Alberta should not move millions of traffic tickets online and away from court while charging people to fight them, the province's transportation minister argued Tuesday.

The policy flip comes after the government received widespread criticism over changes to the Provincial Administrative Penalties Act driven by the Justice Transformation Initiative.

The changes were leaked to journalists in January. At the time, officials argued they were trying to streamline the process to free up more court and policing resources.

Minister Rajan Sawhney is now recommending the plan be scrapped, because it's not as effective or popular as the government hoped.

"We heard from Albertans, we heard from our stakeholders, we heard from MLAs, so all of that feedback combined resulted in that recommendation," she said in the legislature.

The new direction still needed to be approved by cabinet, Sawhney said, and she declined to outline for reporters why her government thought the changes were a good idea in the first place.

"I don't even think it's worthwhile getting into that, because right now the intention is not to implement this administrative model," she said, adding that what was leaked to journalists was something that the UCP never gave final approval to.

That model would have moved tickets to an online portal, instead of providing a court date.

Drivers would have had just a week to review a ticket with an adjudicator, rather than a judge. The cost to review would have been a non-refundable fee of up to $150, depending on the amount of the fine.

'GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT'

The NDP criticized the government for the proposed traffic court changes Tuesday.

"It is simply disgusting that the UCP believes that only people who have plenty of cash laying around on a week's notice should have access to justice," MLA Irfan Sabir argued in the legislature.

"I can confirm that it is being scrapped," Justice Minister Tyler Shandro responded without defending the proposal.

Some experts in the field also slammed the government when the changes became public.

"In essence what it is that, instead of you having the right to a trial, you do not get to go to trial," explained Charlie Pester, a former police officer who fights traffic tickets with POINTTS Calgary.

"Instead of being presumed innocent until proven guilty, you're presumed guilty until proven innocent."

"With a judge of the court, they can reduce the amount of a ticket or they can give you more time to pay. Under this regime, it's just confirm or cancel. So there are far fewer powers this tribunal has," said Brynne Harding, a lawyer with Bennett Jones and professor at the University of Calgary.

The legislation won't be dead until cabinet confirms it, but Sawhney said her recommendation is to not move forward with these policy changes.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Carlyle Fiset and CTV News Calgary's Jordan Kanygin