Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Feb, 2022 01:15 PM
An Ontario court has extended to March 9 a freezing order on funds donated to the recent Ottawa convoy protest, as a class-action civil suit against protest organizers continues.
Parties in the case have agreed to move some donated funds and cryptocurrency into escrow, which could be redistributed to affected Ottawa residents and business owners should the class action succeed.
Norman Groot, a lawyer representing some convoy protest leaders, says ChristopherGarrah, Benjamin Dichter and Nicholas St. Louis have agreed in principle to moving donated funds within their control to an escrow account.
Groot notes the funds that Garrah, Dichter and St. Louis have agreed to move to escrow might not account for all the cryptocurrency that was donated, and he proposed parties meet next week to take stock of what has been transferred.
An escrow agent will oversee the transferred funds, and will be permitted to change the passwords for cryptocurrency.
The class-action lawsuit seeks a total of $306 million in damages related to the three-week anti-government convoy protest near Parliament Hill that snarled traffic, shut businesses and plagued residents with near-constant honking.
The official announcement from Public Services and Procurement Canada comes nearly a week after The Canadian Press first reported Boeing had been told its bid for the $19-billion fighter-jet contract did not meet Canada's requirements.
Flood warnings have been issued for several major rivers in British Columbia's Fraser Valley and Interior following a series of major storms that are crossing the province. The B.C. government's River Forecast Centre has issued warnings around the Tulameen, Similkameen, Coldwater and Lower Nicola rivers, as well as Spius Creek.
The victim, a 32-year-old woman, was crossing Quebec Street at Central Street around 10:20 p.m. on November 27 when she was struck by a vehicle that was heading south. Though the driver fled, significant debris, including a driver-side mirror, were left behind on the road.
In September 2021, McCarty, who used an alias, allegedly contacted and communicated with a 14-year-old Surrey youth, on social media. He then allegedly groomed the youth for a sexual purpose, and coerced them to create, and distribute self-exploitive sexual material.
Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole will once again allow his caucus to have a free vote on a government bill seeking to ban conversion therapy. The so-called therapy is widely discredited as a harmful practice, aimed at trying to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity.
More than two dozen weather warnings remain in effect across southern and coastal British Columbia, complicating clean-up efforts from previous flooding and mudslides.
