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."
Governor Tiff Macklem said the issue comes down to the trust Canadians have in the Bank of Canada to make sure the pace of price increases doesn’t run too high.
The federal government on Wednesday advised Canadians against non-essential international travel in an effort to protect against the Omicron variant, while Ontario and Quebec announced thousands of new COVID-19 infections.
The engineers from the University of British Columbia shared their preliminary observations from November's floods today, with geotechnical engineer Jonathan Fannin warning that snowmelt in the spring could add pressure to already compromised dikes, highways and bridges.
On December 10 at around 11 a.m., Vancouver Police were called after Justis was found deceased inside his home near West 3rd Avenue and MacDonald Street. Police believe he was killed the day prior.
The city called a special council meeting Tuesday to discuss the recommendations that were made last week in a report from the provincial ombudsperson.
British Columbia's finance minister says the federal government's $5 billion contribution to flood disaster recovery efforts in the province is a historic amount of cash that reflects the extreme nature of the disaster.
