Ontario's legal aid boycott could be expanded to include all offences as early as Friday amid growing pressure to ramp up the months-long protest, The Canadian Press has learned.

The Criminal Lawyers' Association is considering a range of options, although no decision has yet been made because there's a division between rank-and-file lawyers and the group's leadership, said the sources.

'It's not going to work; there is no more money."'— Attorney General Chris Bentley

If the expanded boycott is voted down, the protest would still apply to cases involving guns and gangs and homicide cases as it does now, but lawyers are aggressively pushing for an escalated protest.

Attorney General Chris Bentley said Thursday he was disappointed in the ongoing protest, noting his government has already provided a $150-million funding increase over the next four years to help the struggling program.

"We're going to do whatever we need to do to provide access to justice," said Bentley.

"We'll take whatever steps are required, but I simply say to those who believe that they can put pressure for more money by engaging in these actions — it's not going to work; there is no more money."

Bentley has expressed growing frustration with the boycott, arguing the government has offered all the money it can afford in the wake of a $25-billion deficit.

He has also set up discussions with lawyers to find out how best to use that money.

Government could take 'further steps'

Participation in the legal aid system is voluntary, so the government can't force the lawyers back to work, and while he suggested he would take strong action if the lawyers ramped up their protest, Bentley wouldn't specify what those measures would be.

He didn't rule out setting up a public defender system, however, saying: "If we are forced by their actions to take further steps, we will."

The boycott, which began in June, now includes hundreds of criminal lawyers who are upset with the gap between what they are paid through legal aid and what provincial prosecutors earn.

A former Superior Court justice, the province's Crown attorneys and the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted are among those who have since joined the protest, warning that ongoing neglect will do irreversible damage to the justice system.

The Criminal Lawyers Association wouldn't confirm the possible expansion, saying it was working constructively with the attorney general's officials and Legal Aid Ontario to solve the crisis, and that no decision had yet been made.

Announcement expected Friday

Association president Frank Addario is expected to make an announcement at the group's annual conference Friday.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the government should get back to the table and solve the legal aid problem, adding they must have known lawyers wouldn't be happy with just the $150-million increase.

"The lack of access to lawyers creates all kinds of other problems within the court system which then creates expenses as well," said Horwath.

"It absolutely is a requirement of a democracy to have a justice system where people can access a lawyer."

Most legal aid money goes to single mothers who are living below the poverty line, and while the new funding amounts to a $60-million increase a year, Legal Aid's annual budget is about $300 million.