DID MECAC'S PERVERSE DECISIONS PROMOTE AN OUTSIDE PROSECUTER?

Yesterday in Provincial Offences Court I received some welcome news. Fortunately besides other citizens there were two media outlets present namely Liz Bevan of the Woolwich Observer and also the Waterloo Region Record. Both of them have stories in today's newspapers. Here is a link to the Woolwich Observer story. The Record's story is inaccurate when it states that a decision whether mayor Shantz "will be charged" is a month away. She was charged via a Justice of the Peace accepting my "Information" many months ago. My notes from yesterday's comments in court by the local prosecuter are as follows: "The public interest requires the Crown to intervene and to take carriage of the file." Similarily the Observer states "Prosecuters are going ahead with a case against Woolwich Mayor Sandy Shantz related to election expenses filed after the 2014 municipal vote." The Observer also states "In Provincial Offenses Court Wednesday morning, Crown lawyers said they intend to pursue charges brought forward by Elmira resident Alan Marshall.".

Well isn't that a huge turnaround from the nonsense MECAC have been peddling here in Woolwich Township? Apparently our legal system have a different attitude towards law breaking than our local bureaucrats and Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) members. Also our courts have a totally different idea in regards to conflicts of interest. For the first time it was spelled out clearly in court that the outside prosecuter is being brought in from London, Ontario in order to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

In court yesterday two elements were made clearer. Firstly the crown are proceeding based upon the public interest. As I have felt from the beginning our democratic system relies upon strict adherence to election laws and to enforcement when they are contravened. Any failure to follow up as MECAC have done puts the whole system in disrepute. Secondly however the Crown must be confident that they have a reasonable prospect for conviction upon charges laid. Just because they suspect or believe that a candidate has violated the Municipal Election Act is not sufficient grounds to go ahead with prosecution. Some of the charges I laid against mayor Shantz are black and white. Some of them she has already publicly admitted to. In my opinion those will be easy convictions. The more difficult prosecution if the Crown chooses to proceed on them are the ones alleging that she knowingly filed incomplete and inaccurate Financial Statements.