That is exactly what the Liberals are doing to B.C.
Let us take a good close look at this. I want to refer to a case as I move into the next area regarding backlog. They are going to increase the number of judges in the family court from 12 to 36 to take care of the backlog.
There is a case going on in Calgary right now. In June 1996 Christopher Goodstoney was charged in an accident which took the lives of four people. He was accused of being drunk and was found guilty. His first court appearance after the accident in June 1996 was on June 27, 1996, the same day the four children who were killed were to be buried. Because of the snail's pace of our justice system, these grieving families have yet to lay their children to rest. The overloaded courts are squarely to blame.
Let me show the chronology of this event as in the eyes of Carla Powell, the only surviving sibling of all the families. The other four were killed in the automobile wreck:
We were normal families. Ben Keuben is a house painter; his wife Darlene is a school librarian. Gordon Smith is a long time employee of the Calgary Sun ; his wife Susan is an executive at Hewlett-Packard. Douglas Powell is the custodian of the Big Country Educational Consortium in Drumheller; his wife Jean is an English instructor with the Alberta Vocational College in Calgary in the outreach program in Drumheller. Carla Powell, the only remaining sibling of the three families, has a B.A. from the University of Calgary and is presently employed by the University of Saskatchewan. Craig, her brother, who was one of the victims in this wreck attended SAIT in welding engineering technology and was employed by All New Manufacturing in Calgary. Amber, who was another victim, attended the University of Lethbridge and planned on continuing her studies at Mount Royal College. Brandy and Stephanie, the other two victims, were fun-loving teenagers who had just finished their school terms when they were killed. Not only is there a past but also there is a future that we have helped plan and optimistically anticipated.
We feel that we must explain the journey from our perspective rather than that of the courts or the accused.
On June 27, 1996, the day of the funerals for all of our children, Christopher Goodstoney, along with his lawyer, Larry Hursh, made his first court appearance before Judge John Reilly and he was remanded into custody until August 13 charged with five counts, four of criminal negligence causing death and one of criminal negligence causing injury.
On July 3, at which time five more counts had been added to his charges, four of impaired driving causing death and one of impaired driving causing injury, he appeared in Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary before Justice Ernest Hutchinson and was released into his community with no cash bail because of the tremendous support shown by members of his tribe. However, he was given very strict bail conditions. He was not to drive, he was not to drink, he was to live with his mother and he was to report on a regular basis to the Cochrane RCMP.
On August 13, Goodstoney appeared in court in Cochrane for a minute or two and the proceedings were set over to September 24. Sometime along the line, an 11th charge of being over the legal blood alcohol limit of .08 was added to the charges.
On September 24, the appearance of Goodstoney in court was, if that is possible, even shorter than the previous time, but a date was set for the preliminary hearing.
On March 19, 20 and 21, 1997 a preliminary hearing was conducted. After three days of testimony, the proceedings were adjourned until May 6.
On May 6 the court heard from a witness who had been out of the country for several months. The defendant was ordered to stand trial on 11 charges and an arraignment date was set for June 11.
On June 11 the proceedings were postponed until August 13 because the defendant said he needed more time to find funding for his lawyer. His lawyer told the newspaper he needed the time to make a deal with the crown prosecutor. All deals were refused by the prosecution.
On August 13 the same argument of needing more time and requiring money was presented to the Court of the Queen's Bench and the arraignment was set over until September 10.
On September 10 Goodstoney's lawyer quit and Goodstoney was told to be back in court on October 8 with a lawyer. At that time, however, the trial date for the case was set down for days starting on March 16, 1998.
I was there on March 16 and what we were waiting for was his sentencing. We listened to one lawyer on one side and another lawyer on the other side debate for an hour or two about this person who had been charged with drunk driving, who had killed four people because of his actions two years ago and guess what, they did not arrive at a sentencing. The judge was a little confused about what was being said and so it was postponed.
Eighteen court trials on a clear-cut drunk driving case where people were killed. The driver of the vehicle said that he was guilty, that he was sorry and he wished he had not done it. He wanted to be dealt with and have it over with. It has now been two and a half years and 18 court trials on a case like that.
And the government is coming in with a piece of legislation that is going to help all this backlog. There is one judge in Ottawa who, if he does not get a raise, I will be glad to take out for a steak because he hit the nail on the head in an article “Judge scolds greedy lawyers”.
One of Canada's most senior judges has blatantly condemned the legal profession's growing preoccupation with making money. This judge of the Supreme Court of Canada said “Law has become more of a business than a profession or a calling and many lawyers are rapidly losing sight of their obligation to the public and to the pursuit of justice”. I will take that judge out for a steak if he does not get his raise, and an Alberta steak at that.
There were 18 court cases on a clear-cut case of negligence causing death over two years ago. This goes on and on. Pockets are getting fatter and fatter. The victims and even the families of the criminals are not satisfied. They want this to come to end but the system carries it on and on.
Our wonderful solution givers over on that side of the House will create more positions for judges to help get rid of the backlog. It is too bad we cannot do something to get rid of the Liberals. They are the cause of the whole mess to start with. The sooner that happens the better it will be.
One of these days the time will come when victims rights are a priority in this land. Victims rights will come first. Some day, and it will be real soon. One day the Liberal honeymoon will be over. The voters who say that the Liberals are doing a wonderful job will soon wake up and smell the roses.
They keep feeding these greedy little parasitic fraternities that exist across this land. The longer they keep that up, the worse it is going to get. Please taxpayers of Canada, stop feeding these greedy people and stop nurturing this kind of appetite.
Let us look after those million kids who are living in poverty. Let us look after the soldiers we were talking about earlier so they do not have to go to the soup kitchens and food banks to survive. Let us look after these public servants who serve us in this building who have not had a raise for eight or nine years.
Let us start doing what we ought to be doing instead of having a greedy little political are we not great attitude. That attitude stinks and it is time to get rid of it.