In the context of a trial, of course, the Crown bears the burden at all times of proving everything. The certificate is a great assistance to the Crown. Very often, perhaps more often now if this gets through, it saves us from having to call the analyst and go through every step. They provide the certificate. There is full disclosure to the defence of what was done.
In this bill, in another part of it, we are allowing for the printout from the machine, and I obviously don't know what could lead to a 25-day trial over something like that. But if the machine prints out everything that was done and it worked right on blank air--there was no alcohol, it worked right on the test--then you have your test. And again, before the next one, it goes through all of those. We will have a situation where, on the printout by the machine, it is shown that it has worked. It did its own internal testing.
I fully suspect that the defence will attempt to find some way to get around that and look for maintenance records, etc. The new machines, in particular, provide the printout that shows that this machine was working before it took your accused's test, and because we do two of them, it will show that it was working in between, when we tested it again on the standard solution.
If the defence wants to attack it, it can make motions, and if it's unhappy with the disclosure, asking for all these maintenance records and manuals, etc., I presume the Crown will oppose these, saying, “What's the point of it? We know the machine is working because the machine tests itself.”