| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 |
|
| Betty Krawczyk's appeal dismissed |
|
| David Emerson surfaces, public excluded |
|
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has dismissed Betty Krawczyk's appeal of her conviction for criminal contempt of court arising from her 2003 protest activities. In May of 2003, Ms. Krawczyk sat on a public logging road as a symbolic demonstration of her displeasure with the government's forestry policies and the industry's clearcut logging practices.
Betty Krawczyk
"Betty K" was arrested for allegedly violating a civil injunction order obtained by Hayes Forest Services Limited and held in jail for several weeks while the Crown and the company tried to decide what, if anything, to do with her.
Ms. Krawczyk, then aged 75, spent a total of four and one half months in jail awaiting trial. Upon "conviction" she was sentenced to a further six months behind bars. Since she was never charged with a criminal offence under the Criminal Code, bail legislation did not apply.
On appeal, we argued that the process used to imprison Ms. Krawczyk for almost a year as punishment for the physical act of sitting on a public road violated her constitutional rights. The Court of Appeal disagreed. A further appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada is being considered.
Read the Court of Appeal decision:
upload
The Honourable David Emerson, former Liberal candidate, newly minted Conservative cabinet minister, finally emerged from hiding to appear at an Olympic photo op in Vancouver. The ceremony, held to symbolically break ground on the Olympic village, was "by invitation only" and the public was excluded. A couple of nights before, Mr. Emerson attended a Vancouver Board of Trade black tie gala, which, oddly, wasn't publicized in advance by the business group.
Mr. Emerson reportedly told those in attendance at the ground-breaking that the federal government he represents had committed $497 million to the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Hey, wait a minute! That is public money, isn't it? The Winter Games are funded by us, the taxpayers, and are supposed to be inclusive, aren't they? Why, then, was a ceremony held in a vast parking lot and attended by officials from various levels of government, closed to the public?
Is this a harbinger of things to come? Are we, the taxpayers on the hook for this multibillion dollar two week extravaganza, going to be excluded from participating in all the activities and hoopla coming our way over the next four years? Are these Olympic festivities going to be "by invitation only" - open only to the well-heeled, the tuxedo and ballroom gown set - while members of the public, the folks paying the massive Olympic bills, are barred?
THIS JUST IN....According to Leger Marketing's annual survey of the most trusted occupations, 14% of Canadians trust politicians.
That is a shocking statistic - who are these people who make up the 14% and what are they smoking?
