AlwaysAwesomeVille
Gosh.
I didn't know it was possible for the VSun's Ian Mulgrew to write an entire column with his tongue fixed firmly in cheek...
The burgeoning court backlog and the chance of violent and other defendants avoiding conviction because of the pandemic’s effect on timely trials concern former B.C. attorney general Barry Penner.
“I’m worried about a large number of criminal cases being dismissed, not on the merits but because of delay, and I’m worried about that risk rising as cases pile up,” he said. “The accused is going to walk, and it might be a person who is a risk to the public and that doesn’t serve the public well and the public won’t be happy about that.”...
But do we really have the kind of problem that Mr. Penner is so worried about?
Perhaps:
...The B.C. Supreme Court and the provincial court curtailed normal operations in mid-March because of COVID-19, social-distancing health orders. Jury trials now are impossible and only urgent and select other matters are proceeding.
Most criminal trials are adjourned until the fall and the delay may cause some to exceed time-limits set in 2016 by the Supreme Court of Canada. The Jordan decision defined “unreasonable” delay under the constitution and said the wait for trials to begin in provincial courts should not exceed 18 months and in superior courts, not more than 30 months.
As a result, hundreds of cases were thrown out because they did not meet the new standards aimed at ending a pervasive legal culture of delay in the courts and complacency towards it...
But hang on, as Mr. Mulgrew points out, there is an out of the Supremes' own making:
...Still, in that (2016) ruling, the Supreme Court said there could be exceptions caused by special circumstances — and COVID-19 would appear to fit the criteria...
Regardless, how does Mr. Penner think we should deal with the imminent release of the entire contents Group W Bench onto the streets of British Columbia?
Well, he thinks that a very fine institution called the 'BC International Commercial Arbitration Centre' which was set up by the super double-plus-good Socreds back in the go-go Expo '86 days is the way to go:
...“To the extent that civil matters, business and commercial disputes, can be moved out of the courts and dealt with privately, it will free up time in the publicly funded court system to deal with the criminal matters and important family law disputes,” he (Penner) said...
And just take a guess who the managing director of said very fine institution that can help us do things 'privately' is?
Bingo!
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As to the subheader to the post?.....Take it away NVG.
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7 comments:
Who would have thought that a company that donated to the BC Liberals, heavily, would have to be reminded on the importance of NOT dumping Train petroleum products into the street drain from their Maintenance buildings?
Ahhh Yes, Penner, the Environment Minister and his photo shoot, shoot, shoot,
".... there are 11 photographs of 11 different Drains with the same people in the background witnessing Penner's flattening of 11 healthy salmon AND then spray painting them yellow."
https://www.flickriver.com/photos/thinksalmon/428689257/
"Think Salmon press conference and project launch at the Rocky Mountaineering Station in Vancouver March 20, 2007. Jeff Vinnick Photography 604 230 6350"
a little legal reform would help expedite decades of 6 year court cases?
And along side of the Penner ad, on You tube, is one of my favorite songs by Abba, They Winner Takes it All. Perhaps there is a message there.
Now as I recall, the court system got a tad congested because, the government good old Penner was a part of, el gordo and the B.c. Lieberals, closed court houses, failed to appoint judges, cut bugets, reduced the number of Sheriffs, etc. I could go on, but my fingers are wearing out.
What a slime buck that man is, well in my honestly held personal opinion. Does Penner think we're going to buy into his b.s.
as you write, the Supremes will make an exception for COIVID delay. they just weren't going to accept delays which were the result of inaction or ineptitude by provincial governments.
Penner, penner, penner. go peddle it some where else.
None of these alleged criminals are going anywhere. We jails are having a pandemic of their own so lets not send more people there. They're there for crimes with jail terms not death penalties--we don't have them any more.
Doing things privately means the public doesn't get to know In private usually means no justice. My question would be what is Penner hoping to hide? one could say he was part of a government which wasn't exactly known for its openess or honesty.
Given the B.C. Lieberals reign of error I'm sure the current government doesn't need any help or suggestions from former B.C. Lieberals.
“The accused is going to walk, and it might be a person who is a risk to the public and that doesn’t serve the public well and the public won’t be happy about that.”...
Penner's comment reminds me to ask if it was in his role, as the Attorney General, or others in the BC Liberal Cabinet, who invited ....
Jaspal Atwal walked into BC Legislature Gallery on February 21, 2012, slipping under the elite radar software program called Prime-BC. Didn't stop him from gaining access, .... just like Mr. Nuttall .... both should have been on Prime-BC list, or would they?
http://blogborgcollective.blogspot.com/2012/03/who-invited-jaspal-atwal-to-legislature.html
NVG--
'Think Salmon', indeed!
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Anon-Above--
You forgot the most important LINO-inspired part, which would be a little 'private' legal reform.
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e.a.f.--
Regarding the GordCo, Inc., regime...'Failures, they had a few'...The one that incensed me most ( more than Railgate, even) was...this one.
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Yes I do remember it well and a number of other children who died in care. My line at the time was, the B.C.Lieberals don't care, kids don't vote and they aren't rich enough to give them money. Between the children's death and all the years B.C. had Canada's highest rate of child poverty all of those B.C. Lieberals deserve to rot in hell or at least jail for child abuse, How so many children could have died. I remember Ted Hughes report and nothing changed. Never could get over it. They just let children die and didn't give a shit, but then the people of this province were just as bad because they kept electing them. I wonder if any of those politicians ever remember any of those children.
e.a.f.--
In my opinion, the worst of the follow-on, post Hughes, was when the Clarklandians first smeared and then tried to get rid of Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafonde for doing right by kids.
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