Thanks to the Ontario Court of Appeal, the RCMP will finally be able to conduct a full investigation of the Shawinigate affair.
On Friday, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned an earlier decision by Ontario Superior Court Justice, Mary Lou Benotto, that quashed a RCMP search warrant against the National Post and reporter, Andrew McIntosh. In 2001, Mr. McIntosh was sent a 1997 loan document from the Business Development Bank of Canada.
In 2004, the Shawinigate investigation by the RCMP was stalled because Ontario Superior Court Justice Mary Lou Benotto quashed the search warrant and assistance order on the grounds it would break McIntosh's pledge to protect his source. The reson she gave was that it would violate the media's "constitutionally entrenched right'' to gather and disseminate information.
"In this case, the eroding of the ability of the press to perform its role in society cannot be outweighed by the Crown's investigation,'' Benotto ruled.
The three-judge Appeals Court panel disagreed.
Enforcing the law must at times outweigh the need to protect an anonymous source, Ontario's highest court said Friday as it ordered the National Post to surrender documents at the heart of conflict-of-interest allegations against former prime minister Jean Chretien.
3 comments:
Wheeeeeeee boy the ethics committee will be all over this. Szabo must be doing cartwheels right now knowing that he can force Chretien to testify. Hmmm I know there is something wrong with what I just said but I just can't put my finger on it. CBC get your questions ready.
Prepare for the inevitable hypocritical Liberal outcry. Investigating Brian Mulroney 20 years after the fact over something that had already been investigated and dismissed is perfectly A-OK... but continuing the investigation into shawinigate when nothing was resolved and there is all kinds of evidence of wrongdoing will be a travesty against man and nature. Expect Garth to go on some kind of self-serving tirade... and Dion to mumble something unintelligible. And expect a whole lot of finger pointing...
Hmmm - things are falling into place - NOW it makes sense why this Cadscam affair has come to light.
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