BC Tories vow to clean up courtroom backlog in new platform
Posted September 24, 2011 5:58 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – BC Conservative Leader John Cummins is dropping hints about the party’s new election platform, which is set to be released Monday.
Cummins says it’s time to give police the ability to lay criminal charges, something officers in most other provinces already have.
“Currently there are only a small number of provinces where the police can’t lay charges, and that certainly is the case in BC,” he tells News1130.
He says prosecutors and sheriffs have been laid off under the Liberals, creating justice backlogs throughout the province.
“Crown counsel is overworked and it slows the process down, and we’ve seen that dramatically in the tardiness, if you will, of laying charges after the Vancouver hockey event last spring… There simply hasn’t been the personnel in place to move these cases through the courts in a timely fashion.”
Tories target black market salmon sales
Cummins also wants the RCMP to start clamping down on illegal salmon sales by aboriginals.
He says under a Supreme Court of Canada decision, aboriginals have the right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes – “But that right is being abused, currently.”
“Ninety-seven per cent of the fish that are caught are being used for purposes other than which they were caught,” he says, citing testimony of federal Department of Fisheries staff at the Cohen Inquiry. “The fact is that they’re being sold illegally in the black market.”
Cummins says if elected as premier he’ll empower provincial wildlife officers and police to crack down on illegal salmon sales.
