Criminal Activity
or Business as Usual!

Following the piece by Robin Mathews, there is a short post of mine about an unfortunate individual who falls outside the jurisdiction of "oh so special" entitlement.

In Criminal Breach of Trust:
Stephen Harper, the Conservative Party, 67 candidates in the 2006 election, Senator Irving Gerstein, Senator Doug Finley … and others.

by Robin Mathews

The 2006 federal election is key in the present illegitimate holding of a majority by the Harper Conservatives in the House of Commons. In that election more than 67 Harperite Conservatives and the Conservative Party conspired to defraud the Canadian people of a fair election.

The Prosecution of the violations by the people named above has been palid and ineffective. They should have been charged, one and all, with criminal breach of trust – a charge which the Criminal Code of Canada declares requires, because of its seriousness, less evidence when dealing with public servants. Like prime ministers, senators, and candidates for election, for instance.

The move by the Prosecution to accept a plea bargain in a matter of the greatest importance to all Canadians is an act of major irresponsibility, I insist.

Stephen Harper and at least seventy others colluded to engage in criminal breach of trust in a calculated violation of the Elections Act in 2006.

In standard Harperite practice the wholesale fraud is said to have happened without the knowledge of the man who lets nothing in the Party happen without his knowledge: Stephen Harper. But being leader, he cannot escape accusation.

After pleading guilty to plea bargain charges of breaching campaign spending limits and failing to report expenses, spokespeople for the Harper Party – with Orwellian lie-tactics – claim that guilt is not guilt, that the illegal is legal, that the profoundly unethical is ethical.

Orwell was describing the use of language in a fascist state.

In addition, the 2006 election campaign was marked by the entrance into campaigning – in fact – by the RCMP on behalf of the Harper Conservatives. Military and police interference in democratic elections proclaims a move towards fascism. In a break with honourable tradition, the RCMP announced – in the midst of election campaigning - that it was undertaking a criminal investigation of Liberal minister of finance, Ralph Goodale. The announcement was totally gratuitous, and, of course, Goodale was cleared completely.

But the RCMP helped – along with the wholesale criminal breach of trust of the Conservative candidates and Party – to shape an illegitimate minority victory for Stephen Harper.

Not long after, Guiliano Zaccardelli, RCMP head, was caught in perjury before a Commons Committee and was forced to resign. He was carefully tucked away by the Harper government in an Interpol position in France. We have heard no more about him because the Mainstream Press and Media are branches of the Harper office.

The Mainstream Media is a branch of the Harper office. Stephanie McDowall has written CBC about Evan Soloman’s slippery attack on Bob Rae on The House, November 12. I wrote to CBC after the embarrassing failure of Carol Off to interview the Harperite representative lying about the conviction of the Conservative Party for election fraud on November 10.

Questions that leapt to my mind: Why isn’t the lawyer for the Conservative Party being interviewed? Did or did not the Conservative Party plead guilty? (Ms. Off never asked that.) Did 67 Harperite candidates engage in the violation? Why won’t Stephen Harper be interviewed on the subject? Etcetera.

Ms. Off – to my mind – worked to kill the story.

In addition NO OPPOSITION REPRESENTATIVE was interviewed by As It Happens concerning the admission of guilt by the Conservative Party.

Canadians must publicize the “assistants to Stephen Harper” in the media whenever they show their heads. Perhaps we should have a petition to ask that Carol Off be removed.

Hold the Presses!....koot back here

Every now and then the news is actually surprising, like last week when a "Special Prosecutor" actually (prepare yourself) recommended that charges be laid against someone whose case warranted a special prosecutor.

One can be forgiven for thinking that the raison d'etre of an "oh so" Special Prosecutor was to coddle and basically provide a publicly funded defender of the special folks, too precious to be expected to be held accountable to the law. After all, it would appear that William Berardino's mandate was to protect Gordon Campbell and cohorts from any responsibility for the theft of BC Rail, no matter what the cost (a cool twenty to thirty million, including the carefully guided investigation by the RCMP, the six million dollar bribe to buy the silence of Basi and Virk and AT LEAST twice that to the office of Wild Bill and associates).

Then of course there was the "special handling" of Kash Heed (twice), for election fraud. Then there was the two years long "exoneration" of John Les "(s) than ethical" for shady land dealings and the decision that there wasn't enough evidence to secure a conviction for impaired driving against the Drunk MLA from North Van who not only failed a breathalyzer or two, but had spent the afternoon tweeting about the wine and being drunk with hundreds of witnesses who apparently were never consulted.

Therefore imagine one's surprise when one finds in the North Shore News an item like this:

A B.C. Crown prosecutor has been charged with assault following an incident that allegedly happened in North Vancouver on Aug. 23.

Hedley Christopher Johns, who works for the Criminal Justice Branch, is charged with one count of assault.

The charge against Johns was sworn Nov. 8 after it was approved by Kris Pechet, a special prosecutor appointed by the province. Pechet approved the charge after reviewing an investigative report forwarded by the North Vancouver RCMP in September.

Johns is to make his first court appearance in North Vancouver Jan. 4. He has not entered a plea to the charges.

So far little information has been released about what is alleged to have happened.

Meanwhile, the Law Society of British Columbia is opening its own investigation into the case.

"He's facing a serious charge and we will conduct a thorough investigation," said spokesperson Lesley Pritchard.

Pritchard said Johns is presumed innocent.

He has been practicing law since 1981.

Poor Mr. Johns, that should teach him to keep up to date with his donations to the BC liaRs, though as a Crown Attorney, Mr. Johns most likely couldn't afford to make a large enough donation to matter to the BC LIEberals. I wonder if he was hired to be a crown during the (irony) dark days of NDP rule in the nineties(/irony)! Whatever the reason, the unfortunate Mr. Johns, it would appear is neither too big, nor too special to jail!