The Department of Justice Canada is responsible for the review and drafting of legislation for the government. Legislation is drafted to respect the Constitution, be understandable, operate coherently and effectively with other related laws, to meet the linguistic and legal requirements for laws that speak to both official language communities, and operate effectively in both common law and civil law jurisdictions.
The following table presents an overview of the Cycle II client feedback provided by the 364 service users who identified that they had received legislative drafting services in the twelve months preceding the administration of the Survey. Presented for comparison purposes are the Cycle I results for legislative drafting services.18
| Cycle II (2012) | Cycle I (2009) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall quality of Legislative Drafting Services provided. † | 8.5 (±0.2) Strong |
8.2 (±0.1) Positive |
| Cycle II (2012) | Cycle I (2009) | |
|---|---|---|
| Official languages: Please rate your overall level of satisfaction with the accessibility of legal services in the official language of your choice. | 9.2 (±0.2) Strong |
9.4 (±0.1) Strong |
| Courteousness/Respectfulness: Please rate your overall level of satisfaction with the courteousness/respectfulness of legal service providers. † | 8.7 (±0.2) Strong |
9.1 (±0.1) Strong |
| Service Provider: Please rate your level of satisfaction with the ease with which the correct service provider to meet your needs was identified. | 8.4 (±0.2) Strong |
n/a |
| Satisfaction with access mode: Electronic. | 8.6 (±0.3) Strong |
n/a |
| Satisfaction with access mode: Telephone. | 8.6 (±0.3) Strongs |
n/a |
| Satisfaction with access mode: In person. | 8.8 (±0.2) Strong |
n/a |
| Regularly provided informative progress reports or ongoing feedback informing you of the status of your request for services. | 7.6 (±0.3) Moderate |
7.7 (±0.2) Moderate |
| Cycle II (2012) | Cycle I (2009) | |
|---|---|---|
| Fully understood the nature of the problem/issue for which you received assistance. | 8.3 (±0.2) Positive |
8.3 (±0.1) Strong |
| Advised you of issues/developments which may impact your department/agency. | 8.2 (±0.2) Positive |
8.3 (±0.1) Strong |
| Worked with you to identify legal risks. | 8.1 (±0.2) Positive |
8.2 (±0.1) Positive |
| Involved you in the review/development of legal options to mitigate identified legal risks. | 8.0 (±0.2) Positive |
n/a |
| Provided consistent legal advice. † | 8.3 (±0.2) Positive |
8.0 (±0.1) Positives |
| Identified opportunities to implement policies or programs by administrative rather than legislative means. | 7.8 (±0.3) Moderate |
7.7 (±0.2) Moderate |
| Proposed appropriate solutions for legal and drafting issues raised. | 8.2 (±0.2) Moderate |
8.1 (±0.2) Positive |
| Developed legislative drafting options appropriate to your policy and program objectives. | 8.3 (±0.2) Positive |
8.2 (±0.2) Positive |
| Cycle II (2012) | Cycle I (2009) | |
|---|---|---|
| Responded in a timely manner to requests for legal services. † | 8.2 (±0.2) Positive |
7.8 (±0.2) Moderate |
| Negotiated mutually agreed-upon deadlines. | 8.0 (±0.2) Positives |
7.8 (±0.2) Moderate |
| Met mutually agreed-upon deadlines. | 8.1 (±0.2) Positive |
7.9 (±0.2) Positive |
† Denotes a statistically significant difference between Cycle II and Cycle I client feedback.
In assessing the overall quality of the legislative drafting services provided, overall client satisfaction has significantly improved since Cycle I (8.5 versus 8.2 on a 10-point scale). Moreover and largely consistent with the findings from Cycle I, against the additional eighteen elements related to legislative drafting services, the Department is generally meeting or surpassing the 8.0 target.
There are two specific elements where the client feedback was “moderate” – falling slightly below the established target. Specifically:
18 For Cycle II, the results for legislative and regulatory drafting services are presented separately, whereas in Cycle I, the results were combined.