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."
In addition, multiple vehicles that were blocking 176 Street were removed from the area and the road has re-opened. Vehicles and pedestrians are now able to access the border crossing.
The most recent public health orders related to gatherings, events, bars and restaurants, for example, were set to expire on Wednesday and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has said she would announce any changes a day earlier.
Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said in his newly released plan that Canada will admit 431,645 permanent residents in 2022, 447,055 next year and 451,000 in 2024.
Distributed Denial of Secrets, which has a history of obtaining leaked information from right-wing organizations and providing it to media, says it has received over 30 megabytes of donor information from Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo.
Mike Farnworth also said the province supports Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in using the Emergencies Act to deal with protests that are holding other parts of the country "economic hostage."
In addition, 93.1% (4,315,735) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 90.5% (4,193,878) received their second dose and 52.7% (2,443,314) have received a third dose.
