Spending a ‘marked departure’ from former B.C. legislature clerk’s duties, Crown says

VANCOUVER - A e-book on beekeeping, a wooden splitter and a cushion adorned with the Union Jack and the phrases “God Save the Queen,” are among the many gadgets that a particular prosecutor alleges former B.C. legislature clerk Craig James improperly paid for with authorities dollars.

David Butcher started arguments Monday in James’s B.C. Supreme Court docket trial, alleging the offences additionally concerned a $250,000 retirement allowance and journey bills.

James pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of fraud over $5,000 and three counts of breach of belief by a public officer. His defence attorneys haven't but introduced arguments in courtroom.

“Mr. James was no bizarre worker. Because the parliamentary equal of a CEO, he had a accountability to the establishment (and) the individuals of British Columbia to handle the affairs and sources of the legislature in an exemplary method,” Butcher mentioned.

As a substitute, Butcher informed the courtroom, James used public dollars for private achieve.

“Crown alleges that Mr. James’s conduct, at completely different occasions and in numerous methods, was a marked departure from the usual of accountable administration anticipated of an individual occupying one of many highest workplaces within the province,” he mentioned.

Affiliate Chief Justice Heather Holmes is listening to the case, which is predicted to incorporate testimony from 27 witnesses over not less than three weeks.

Former legislature Speaker Darryl Plecas, who produced a report outlining allegations of misspending towards James in January 2019, isn't anticipated to testify.

The clerk is the senior officer of the home, chargeable for advising the Speaker on parliamentary process and performing the important thing administrative capabilities of the legislature.

James was suspended from the publish in 2018 after an RCMP investigation into allegations of spending on private bills on the legislature.

Beverley McLachlin, the previous chief justice of the Supreme Court docket of Canada, was appointed to look into the allegations outlined within the Plecas report.

Her report discovered James improperly claimed advantages and used legislature property for private causes. It additionally mentioned there was an absence of readability in authority over bills and administrative issues on the legislature that have been the core of her investigation.

On Monday, Butcher mentioned that if there have been inadequate or unclear insurance policies to information his conduct, then it was James’s job to right them.

The case towards James has three aspects, he mentioned. The primary is the cost of the retirement profit, the second is journey expense claims and memento purchases and third is the acquisition of a trailer and wooden splitter.

The courtroom heard that James authorised a proposal to purchase the wooden splitter and trailer as a part of a $65,000 expenditure in 2017 on emergency supplies in case of a catastrophe like an earthquake or terrorist assault.

The acquisition was rationalized as gear that could possibly be used for heating, rescue and extractions and that could be utilized to fallen hydro poles and cleansing up particles.

Nonetheless, the courtroom heard that the trailer was saved for months at a storage facility 28 kilometres from the legislature, whereas the wooden splitter was saved at James’s home 13.4 kilometres away.

“The gear would have been completely ineffective in an emergency,” Butcher mentioned.

He mentioned a witness would testify that the wooden splitter had been used to course of the equal of two to 3 pickup truck masses.

The Crown can also be calling witnesses regarding the development of a declare in 2012 for the cost of a retirement allowance for $257,988.

The retirement profit was established in 1984 and accrued advantages till 1987 for these officers who didn’t obtain both a public service pension plan or govt profit plan, the courtroom heard.

The profit was discontinued in 2012, one yr after James took the place of clerk, the courtroom heard.

Butcher mentioned then-Speaker Invoice Barisoff wrote in a letter to James that to make sure full compliance of the phrases of the profit, all officers who've pursued entitlements and remained unpaid ought to be paid out.

The termination of the profit suggests this system was formally acknowledged as not vital in mild of present compensation preparations, Butcher mentioned.

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Jan. 24, 2022.