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."
Tory whip Blake Richards is asking the Commons Speaker, Anthony Rota, to rule that the the seven-member, multi-party body that governs the House does not have the authority to impose a vaccine mandate on all MPs.
There are 3,047 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 210,478 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 345 individuals are in hospital and 115 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
The findings released Tuesday are based on the responses of 25,268 adults in 10 provinces — including 6,517 Indigenous individuals — to a survey last spring about the pandemic's impacts on health care.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says up to 350,000 children will be eligible for the vaccine and more than 90,000 kids are already registered.
Delivered in the Senate, the ceremony surrounding the opening of Parliament hearkens back to a struggle in 1642 in the English House of Commons between an unpopular King and his MPs.
Blair says it's still too early to estimate how much it will cost to fix all the damage caused by the atmospheric river that hit B.C. earlier this month. The storm dropped nearly 300 mm of rain on some communities in southern B.C. in less than two days, washing out major highways and rail lines, and triggering mudslides that killed at least four people.
