Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 01 Mar, 2022 01:30 PM
VANCOUVER - A special prosecutor says British Columbia's former clerk of the legislative assembly used public funds to enrich himself in "glaring and egregious" ways.
Brock Martland made the allegation as he began closing arguments in the Crown's case against Craig James, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud over $5,000 and three counts of breach of trust.
James's defence is expected to present its case Wednesday.
Martland says that as the most senior officer of the legislature, James held a position akin to the CEO and was responsible for financial stewardship of the institution.
He accused James of acting outside of his duties by picking up a wood splitter and trailer for the legislature and storing them at home for a year, exploiting a weakness in the system to award himself a $258,000 retirement benefit and charging souvenirs to the public purse.
Martland says public trust in government officials is a critical part of a functioning democracy, and he alleged that James violated that trust.
"This case is about trust, specifically the public trust that we place in government officials," Martland told the court on Tuesday.
"Our position is that the public trust was violated repeatedly and extensively by Craig James."
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Sherilee Harper of the University of Alberta and one of the 330 authors of the summary report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there will be impacts on human health and well-being. She says fleeing wildfires and flooding caused by climate change imposes mental-health costs.
Officials say the number of people in hospitals due to COVID-19 declined again with 549 patients in hospital as of yesterday, a drop from 599 on Friday.
The 31-year-old male was taken to hospital and sadly succumbed to his injury. Surrey RCMP’s General Investigation Unit has assumed conduct of the investigation and initial indications are that it was a self-inflicted injury.
The bill modernizing the Official Languages Act would ensure that federally regulated companies, including banks, airlines, and trains and buses crossing provincial lines, would have to serve Canadians in French as well as English.
The increase of 15.4 per cent for the year was second only to the 17.4 per cent gain recorded in 1983 as the country came out of a recession the previous year.
