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Restructure Legislative, Executive and Judicial Powers Restructure and rebalance the provincial government. Separate Legislative, Executive and Judicial powers. Combine online tools for an informed public to re-establish Grand Juries and deal with the reality (or perception) of government corruption and organized crime offenses. A Reform BC government believes that all people, including lawmakers and other government officials, should be equal before the law and those who make enforce or apply laws, bear equal responsibility to the people who respect and obey the law A Reform BC government believes in the common sense of the common people and their right to a democratically elected government of the people, by the people for the people. A Reform BC government will insure that whatever the Legislature has manifestly done shall not be undone by judicial review. A Reform BC government will pay equitable salaries and benefits to Members of the Legislative Assembly, Deputy Ministers and Provincial Court Judges. A Reform BC government will transfer the responsibility for prosecuting claims in re damages associated with wrongful death to a newly constituted Grand Jury system – brief history below. “Grand juries are today virtually unknown outside the United States. England abandoned grand juries in 1933 and instead uses a committal procedure, as do all Australian jurisdictions. In Australia, although the State of Victoria maintains provisions for a grand jury in the Crimes Act 1958 under section 354 Indictments, it has been used on rare occasions by individuals to bring other persons to court seeking them to be committed for trial on indictable offenses.. New Zealand abolished the grand jury in 1961. Canada abolished it in the 1970s. Today approximately half of the states in the U.S. employ them, and only twenty-two require their use, to varying extents. Most jurisdictions have abolished grand juries, replacing them with the preliminary hearing at which a judge hears evidence concerning the alleged offenses and makes a decision on whether the prosecution can proceed. In the early decades of the United States grand juries played a major role in public matters. During that period counties followed the traditional practice of requiring all decisions be made by at least 12 of the grand jurors, so that for a size of 23 a bare majority would be 12. Any citizen could bring a matter before it directly, from a public work that needed repair, to a delinquent official, to a complaint of a crime, and they could conduct their own investigations. The grand jury served to screen out incompetent or malicious prosecutions .. Grand juries rarely aggressively go beyond the control of the prosecuting attorney. When the grand jury does this it's called a runaway grand jury. Runaway grand juries sometimes happen in government corruption or organized crime cases, if the grand jury comes to believe that the prosecutor himself has been improperly influenced. Such cases were common in the 19th century, but have become infrequent since the 1930s.One of the most famous cases was the 1935 Runaway Grand Jury in New York City, which was investigating gambling and mobster Dutch Schultz. Jury members complained in open court, which was widely reported by the press, that prosecutors were not pursuing obvious leads and hinted that the district attorney was possibly receiving payoffs. Thomas E. Dewey was appointed as an independent prosecutor and would rocket to fame on his prosecutors.” A Reform BC government will empanel grand juries to examine claims in re wrongful deaths associated with the following issues: 1. Raid on the legislature offices on Dec. 28, 2003 in respect of the privatization of B.C. Rail, money laundering and drug trafficking and the inferred connection to wrongful deaths resulting from ongoing drug wars across South Western B.C. 2. Queen of the North sinking of March 22, 2006, with 101 persons aboard, and the wrongful death of two passengers, whose bodies were never found. On March 26, 2007, BC Ferries released the results of its investigation and blamed the accident on human error caused by three crew members, specifically the Queen of the North's helmswoman who was at the wheel of the ship as well as the ship's second and fourth officers who were in charge of navigation. A Vancouver Sun editorial on the accident notes that two ferry crew members on the watch--the ferry's second and fourth officer--have been uncooperative during the course of the BC Ferries internal inquiry. The Vancouver Sun writes that: Just before the crash, the fourth officer screamed at the helmswoman to make a bold course correction--a 109-degree turn--and to switch off the autopilot. But she [the helmswoman] "stated not knowing where the switch was located." [The] BC Ferries' report questions the validity of this evidence "as the autopilot disengages simply with a single switch and would have been operated numerous times by the [helmswoman]." The Vancouver Sun does cite an earlier safety board advisory which said that the bridge crew "were confused about how to use a new steering mode selector switch--that among other things controls whether the ship is on autopilot or manual steering--installed in a retrofit in February [2006]. .. As of May 5, 2007, two investigations are still ongoing. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) should release its report soon. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are continuing a criminal investigation into the sinking. The TSB has provided copies of its draft report to BC Ferries, the ferry workers union, and all three fired crew members according to TV news reports. The TSB draft report may blame equipment problems for the accident. 3. Air India Flight 182 operating on the Toronto -Montréal -London- Delhi -Bombay route. On 23 June 1985 the Boeing 747-237B operating on the route was blown up in midair by a bomb in Irish airspace in the single deadliest terrorist attack involving an aircraft to that date. The trial of those accused of the bombing, Sikh separatists Ripudaman Singh Malikand Ajaib Singh Bagri, became known as the "Air India Trial". Reyat's Narita conviction On 10 May 1991 of two counts of manslaughter and four explosives charges relating to the Narita Airport bombing. Fifteen years after the bombing, on 27 October 2000, RCMP arrested Malik and Bagri. They are charged with 329 counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the people on board Air India Flight 182, conspiracy to commit murder, the attempted murder of passengers and crew on the Canadian Pacific flight at Japan's New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport), and two counts of murder of the baggage handlers at New Tokyo International Airport. On 16 March 2005, Justice Ian Josephson found Malik and Bagri not guilty on all counts, since the evidence was inadequate: I began by describing the horrific nature of these cruel acts of terrorism, acts which cry out for justice. Justice is not achieved, however, if persons are convicted on anything less than the requisite standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Despite what appear to have been the best and most earnest of efforts by the police and the Crown, the evidence has fallen markedly short of that standard. 4. Murders at a Port Coquitlam pig farm, allegedly by Willie Pickton who with his brother, David Francis Pickton, ran a registered charity called the Piggy Palace Good Times Society, a non-profit society whose official mandate was to "organize, co-ordinate, manage and operate special events, functions, dances, shows and exhibitions on behalf of service organizations, sports organizations and other worthy groups" Evidence that the women were wrongfully killed in snuff film ring with content transmitted via virtual private networks linked to BC OnLine. Justice James Williams suspended jury deliberations on December 6, 2007 after he discovered an error in his charge to the jury. Earlier in the day, the jury had submitted a written question to Justice James requesting clarification of his charge, asking "Are we able to say 'yes' [i.e., find Pickton guilty] if we infer the accused acted indirectly?” On December 9, 2007, the jury returned a verdict that Pickton is not guilty on 6 counts of first-degree murder, but is guilty on 6 counts of second-degree murder. The B.C. government currently has a lien on the property for $10 million as part of the Pickton defense fund. The government's mortgage was registered on the suburban Port Coquitlam property and a nearby smaller parcel, on Feb. 28, 2003, a year after police raided the farm and arrested Pickton. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show a mortgage principal of $10 million with no interest rate and no repayment schedule. The lender is listed as the B.C. Crown, represented by the attorney general. The mortgage was handled by a lawyer for the ministry's legal services branch, who authorized its registration in a Feb. 27 letter to the New Westminster land title office. A Reform BC government will give Grand Juries the authority to investigate wrongful deaths associated with actions by provincial justice and public safety agencies in order to ensure that these bodies provide training and command systems consistency with the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights, specifically the "right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property." A Reform BC government will review the procedure for selecting Chief Judges and their Assistants. Chief Judges and Assistant Chief Judges of the Court of Appeal of British Columbia, the Supreme Court of British Columbia and the Provincial Court of British Columbia may be elected by their colleagues in periodic elections. Supreme Court Justice Mr. John Bouck first proposed such reforms in a series of articles published in the Globe and Mail, circa 1998. Bouck's reforms are intended to curtail political influence over the control currently exercised through the offices of the Chief Justices who assign judges to particular cases. Mr. Justice John Bouck of British Columbia said: "They are accountable to no one ..." Mr. Justice David Marshall of Ontario said: "Every increase in power to a Chief Judge over others might be seen as a threat to judicial independence." Judge Timothy Daley of Nova Scotia stated: "The opportunities for interference exist because of the unique nature of the chief judge's administrative authority and investigative, disciplinary and supervisory duties." A Reform BC government will move to a system of local selection of Provincial Court judges and, eventually, move to a system of elected local provincial court judges. Elections would coincide with local municipal and regional district elections and candidates would have to meet minimum standards. Superior and Appellate Court judges would continue to be appointed by the federal government. A Reform BC government will adopt the measures recommended by the report by all attorney generals of Canada's ten provinces and two territories to prevent miscarriages of justice. These measures will curb wrongful convictions that cost taxpayers millions of dollars by imposing sanctions on Crown Counsel who do not treat accused persons fairly and in accordance with mandatory standards.
Information on Reform Party of B.C. "Clarity, Equity and One Set of Books!" Fair Tax - Payroll Credit - No Odious Debt  www.reformbc.net Authorized by Ross Eccles, financial agent, |
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