Quebec Crown prosecutors to strike

Quebec's Crown prosecutors say they will go on strike starting Tuesday after negotiations with the government failed, a stalemate that threatens to paralyze the province's legal system.

The association representing 450Crown prosecutors say that they're paid 40 per cent less than the Canadian average, and that the government's latest offer isunacceptable.Theyalso say they areoverworked compared to their colleagues in other provinces, with as many as 200 new prosecutors needed.

Crown Prosecutors Association spokesman J.D. Gerols said Monday thatprosecutors would continue to argue cases where people are detained but thousands of other trials would be delayed.

About 1,000 other government lawyers and notaries might join the prosecutors on the picket lines but continued to negotiate Monday afternoon in hopes of working out a last-minute deal. A strike by that group of lawyers could stall business at the National Assembly because the lawyers write the laws the government passes.

In November, the head of the prosecutors association, Christian Leblanc, said their pay level makes recruitment and retention of new prosecutors difficult.

Gerols said the extreme workloads mean Quebec has the longest backlog of cases in the country.

"We can't do the job in the way we should be able to do," he said. "We can't spend the time with victims who are hurt. We can't spend the time running an efficient system that Canadians have come to expect."