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."
Canada's most populous provinces are facing staff shortages in health- and long-term care as Canada continues to face record-breaking COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations related to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The joint condemnation Thursday by Canada, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine comes after Iran ignored a Wednesday deadline by the coalition of countries to negotiate a settlement for the Jan. 8, 2020 disaster that saw Iran's Revolutionary Guard shoot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.
B.C.'s Housing Ministry says the escalating cost of housing is "concerning" and it will review the report. The B.C. government's housing plan includes cracking down on tax fraud, a vacancy tax and building tens of thousands of new homes, it says.
About 15 centimetres of snow blanketed Metro Vancouver overnight and almost double that amount was recorded at Victoria International airport as the latest storm slammed British Columbia's south coast. Airports in Vancouver and Victoria were reporting early delays and telling travellers to check with their airlines and all transit services were suspended in Greater Victoria.
Under normal conditions, the ministry uses a cable-collar system to remove snow that builds up on the cables of the Alex Fraser and Port Mann bridges so traffic can safely pass. However, high winds can increase the shedding of snow and pose a risk to the rope technicians. This prevents them from deploying the system.
There are 29,967 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 237,195 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 317 individuals are in hospital and 83 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
