"It was Premier McGuinty's government which took this approach recently after former Attorney General Michael Bryant became involved in an unfortunate altercation which resulted in a bicycle courier's tragic death. Ontario overcame this conflict of interest by retaining Richard Peck - a highly respected lawyer in British Columbia - to come to Ontario, check out the evidence and make a recommendation. Although Peck ultimately recommended that Bryant should not charged the Government's decision not to prosecute was by and large accepted by the public at large, because of the independent perspective which had been brought to the case......"
HAROLD LEVY: PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG;
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is the Premier who launched the independent public Inquiry into many of Smith's cases in order to restore confidence in Ontario's criminal justice system. My message to the Premier is that public confidence will only be re-established when Smith is himself brought to account, just as his many victims were brought to account. Because the Ontario government has such a palpable conflict of interest when it comes to Charles Smith - its prosecutors relied on him to help the Crown walk away with conviction after conviction in the criminal courts over many years - I have a solution to offer him. Premier McGuinty should encourage Attorney General Chris Bentley to invite a seasoned lawyer from another jurisdiction to come to Ontario and independently examine the relevant Smith cases to determine whether criminal prosecutions are warranted - and whether there is a reasonable probability that he can be convicted. It was Premier McGuinty's government which took this approach recently after former Attorney General Michael Bryant became involved in an unfortunate altercation which resulted in a bicycle courrier's tragic death. Ontario overcame this conflict of interest by retaining Richard Peck - a highly respected lawyer in British Columbia - to come to Ontario, check out the evidence and make a recommendation. Although Peck ultimately recommended that Bryant should not charged the Government's decision not to prosecute was by and large accepted by the public at large, because of the independent perspective which had been brought to the case. My message to Premier McGuinty, is that if indeed the government wishes to prove that it does have a political will to pursue Smith, it should retain Peck or someone like him from outside of the jurisdiction to do the job as quickly as possible. Public confidence in Ontario's criminal justice system is still very much at stake.
HAROLD LEVY: PUBLISHER; THE CHARLES SMITH BLOG.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-feature-cases-issues-and_15.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com
