Wednesday, September 19, 2007
B.C. Rail trial delayed until after the 2009 provincial election? asks Vaughn Palmer
.
MUCH-DELAYED TRIAL OF POLITICAL AIDES STARTS TO NUDGE POLITICAL CALENDAR
Vaughn Palmer
Vancouver Sun - Wednesday, September 19, 2007
VICTORIA - The much-delayed court trial arising from the raid on the legislature was delayed again this week, with implications for the political calendar.
Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett put off the start of the trial phase of the lengthy proceedings until March 2008 at the earliest.
That would be more than four years after the dramatic police raid on the provincial legislature buildings. And even that late date is iffy. {Snip} ...
Recall that the accused in this case were political aides in B.C. Liberal government. They are accused of several offences in connection with the sale of government-owned BC Rail.
Their defence will be to say that anything they did was undertaken with the knowledge of their political masters.
To build their case, they are seeking documents, reports, briefing notes, e-mails and other records regarding the BC Rail deal from a variety of government sources, including the premier's office and key political staffers.
The defence has also tried to gain access to that material through applications under the provincial freedom of information law. To date, they've not gotten anywhere.
Premier Gordon Campbell has vowed to cooperate in the investigation. But the government may try to exclude some records sought by the defence on grounds of cabinet confidentiality.
If so, the court hearing in December could mean some political fallout -- accusations of cover-up and withholding evidence -- for the premier and his ministers. {Snip} ...
Presuming all disclosure issues are sorted out by the end of the year -- and I wouldn't bet on it --the next date on the court calendar is March 17. {Snip} ...
The best guess from the pretrial phase was that it would take perhaps six months for hear all the evidence and witnesses from both sides.
So it is not difficult to imagine this case stretching into the fall of 2008 or even (after another procedural delay or two) into the spring 2009 election season.
All this presumes -- a word that arises frequently in discussions of the legislature raid -- no procedural collapse or abandonment of the case for other reasons.
There's been no hint of that possibility from the court, the police or the prosecution.
But given the many procedural hurdles still to be cleared, it remains an open question whether this matter will ever make it to trial.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=fe8e4e6a-bf50-4d9b-bc5b-cafbabff3afa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are many, many "open questions" on this B.C. Rail affair, Vaughn. Here's one: if you foresee a collapse of the case against Basi, Virk, Basi, wouldn't it be a good idea to begin talking about a Public Inquiry taking place immediately afterward? - BC Mary
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
MUCH-DELAYED TRIAL OF POLITICAL AIDES STARTS TO NUDGE POLITICAL CALENDAR
Vaughn Palmer
Vancouver Sun - Wednesday, September 19, 2007
VICTORIA - The much-delayed court trial arising from the raid on the legislature was delayed again this week, with implications for the political calendar.
Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett put off the start of the trial phase of the lengthy proceedings until March 2008 at the earliest.
That would be more than four years after the dramatic police raid on the provincial legislature buildings. And even that late date is iffy. {Snip} ...
Recall that the accused in this case were political aides in B.C. Liberal government. They are accused of several offences in connection with the sale of government-owned BC Rail.
Their defence will be to say that anything they did was undertaken with the knowledge of their political masters.
To build their case, they are seeking documents, reports, briefing notes, e-mails and other records regarding the BC Rail deal from a variety of government sources, including the premier's office and key political staffers.
The defence has also tried to gain access to that material through applications under the provincial freedom of information law. To date, they've not gotten anywhere.
Premier Gordon Campbell has vowed to cooperate in the investigation. But the government may try to exclude some records sought by the defence on grounds of cabinet confidentiality.
If so, the court hearing in December could mean some political fallout -- accusations of cover-up and withholding evidence -- for the premier and his ministers. {Snip} ...
Presuming all disclosure issues are sorted out by the end of the year -- and I wouldn't bet on it --the next date on the court calendar is March 17. {Snip} ...
The best guess from the pretrial phase was that it would take perhaps six months for hear all the evidence and witnesses from both sides.
So it is not difficult to imagine this case stretching into the fall of 2008 or even (after another procedural delay or two) into the spring 2009 election season.
All this presumes -- a word that arises frequently in discussions of the legislature raid -- no procedural collapse or abandonment of the case for other reasons.
There's been no hint of that possibility from the court, the police or the prosecution.
But given the many procedural hurdles still to be cleared, it remains an open question whether this matter will ever make it to trial.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=fe8e4e6a-bf50-4d9b-bc5b-cafbabff3afa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are many, many "open questions" on this B.C. Rail affair, Vaughn. Here's one: if you foresee a collapse of the case against Basi, Virk, Basi, wouldn't it be a good idea to begin talking about a Public Inquiry taking place immediately afterward? - BC Mary
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Comments:
<< Home
I am really surprised that Vaughn brought this up. After going over the dates yesterday it was my first thought. My second thought was that the judge, prosecution, and the government are in collusion in this thing.
In the case of Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett she appears now to be only paying lip service to the public. In fact that has been the appearance all along. When she says "the public has waited far too long for a trial to start", why did she not lay an order down to have all the prosecutions material handed over to the defence by the end of this week or face contempt of court charges. These guys were already asked to do this and they have come up with excuse after excuse. It didn't take the RCMP and the Victoria Police 4 years to collect the evidence. Why should it take that long to hand it over. So, yes, people there is a very big conspiracy here to delay this trial until after the next election. And it starts at the top. Campbell.
In the case of Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett she appears now to be only paying lip service to the public. In fact that has been the appearance all along. When she says "the public has waited far too long for a trial to start", why did she not lay an order down to have all the prosecutions material handed over to the defence by the end of this week or face contempt of court charges. These guys were already asked to do this and they have come up with excuse after excuse. It didn't take the RCMP and the Victoria Police 4 years to collect the evidence. Why should it take that long to hand it over. So, yes, people there is a very big conspiracy here to delay this trial until after the next election. And it starts at the top. Campbell.
# posted by 
: September 19, 2007 at 8:10 a.m.
: September 19, 2007 at 8:10 a.m.
The campbell/coleman administration know all about the crimes commited, as do the witnesses?
Why is everyone staying silent? These are barbaric atrocities commited against Canadians! Silence kills! It will only get worst if the truth isn't exposed,NOW!
Campbell should be forced to resign, w/his government! ... WHY, THE 'NEW' GOVERNMENT OF CANADA DOESN'T STEP IN, MEANS THEY TOO ARE USELESS!
[One sentence removed by the Moderator.]
Why is everyone staying silent? These are barbaric atrocities commited against Canadians! Silence kills! It will only get worst if the truth isn't exposed,NOW!
Campbell should be forced to resign, w/his government! ... WHY, THE 'NEW' GOVERNMENT OF CANADA DOESN'T STEP IN, MEANS THEY TOO ARE USELESS!
[One sentence removed by the Moderator.]
# posted by : September 19, 2007 at 9:44 a.m.
: September 19, 2007 at 9:44 a.m.
Just had a thought about the next round of 'documents' requested by various parties......wonder how long it will be before material archived on this site becomes part of the mix?
.
.
.
That's just how it is, RossK: we'll never know.
Because that would be (cough, cough) disclosure.
.
That's just how it is, RossK: we'll never know.
Because that would be (cough, cough) disclosure.
.
# posted by : September 19, 2007 at 2:31 p.m.
: September 19, 2007 at 2:31 p.m.
gary e wrote:
"In the case of Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett she appears now to be only paying lip service to the public. In fact that has been the appearance all along. When she says "the public has waited far too long for a trial to start", why did she not lay an order down to have all the prosecutions material handed over to the defence by the end of this week or face contempt of court charges."
gotta agree, gary e. That would seem the "logical" thing to do. Not to mention the right thing to do.
But then this is PretendBC - on almost every level now.
If one doesn't want "the public to wait any longer for this trial to start," surely then, one must act - and act swiftly in this regard.
If there is a reason as to why Madam Justice Bennett cannot demand that this material be handed over to the defence immediately, perhaps someone could provide that reason.
"In the case of Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett she appears now to be only paying lip service to the public. In fact that has been the appearance all along. When she says "the public has waited far too long for a trial to start", why did she not lay an order down to have all the prosecutions material handed over to the defence by the end of this week or face contempt of court charges."
gotta agree, gary e. That would seem the "logical" thing to do. Not to mention the right thing to do.
But then this is PretendBC - on almost every level now.
If one doesn't want "the public to wait any longer for this trial to start," surely then, one must act - and act swiftly in this regard.
If there is a reason as to why Madam Justice Bennett cannot demand that this material be handed over to the defence immediately, perhaps someone could provide that reason.
# posted by : September 19, 2007 at 4:29 p.m.
: September 19, 2007 at 4:29 p.m.
Lets try this? Federal Justice Minister, Rt Hon Rob Nicholson. nichor1@parl.gc.ca (or)nichor2@parl.gc.ca
# posted by : September 19, 2007 at 4:59 p.m.
: September 19, 2007 at 4:59 p.m.
Under what legal authority could the Federal government move in to ensure this case does come to trial? Joey
# posted by : September 21, 2007 at 7:13 p.m.
: September 21, 2007 at 7:13 p.m.
Federal dept.of justice lawyer Mackenzie, recently overturned a BC judgment of Justice Heather Holmes.After she through out charges against a hell's angel member. Whose lawyer happens to be the same lawyer (mathew nathanson) hired by former PM Paul Martin, to keep a watchful eye on the findings of the investigation into BC's legislature! Both Paul Martin and members of Hell's angels are share holders into a Vanc.film production co.! Which this company happened to recieve millions of federal dollars from then liberal minister (of the day) of Industry!Remember, the sponsorship scandal IS all about false advertising!
Post a Comment
# posted by : September 22, 2007 at 7:30 a.m.
: September 22, 2007 at 7:30 a.m. << Home
