To The Editor,
Re: Better uses for cash spent on inquiry, Letters, April 13.
Yes, the millions of dollars that might be spent holding an inquiry into the B.C. Rail scandal could be better spent, but at what cost to our justice system?
Just because some of the robbers pleaded guilty, do we let the get-away driver off scot free? Why were the robbers given a “get out of jail free” card?
Why did we, the taxpayers, have to pay for the robbers’ lawyers? Was the robbery an inside job? Was the judge directed to withhold the heavy hand of the law by the attorney general’s office?
I am talking about criminals here, not just some bad boys, caught with a hand in the cookie jar. I am also talking about the bosses of those bad boys, our elected officials, those who have tried to make those bad boys seem like little angels.
The price to be paid for an inquiry need not be too great. The RCMP have all of that withheld evidence collected in the legislature raids, also all of the records held by the Basi-Virk lawyers should be made available.
Those same lawyers, who claimed lawyer-client privilege, gave up that right when they accepted the $6-million payment from the B.C. taxpayers, the actual clients.
As taxpayers, we also have a right to see all documentation held by the provincial prosecutor’s and the attorney general’s offices, so an inquiry should not be too difficult or costly.
No one really wants to spend a lot of money on this inquiry, but it needs to be done. After all, a criminal is a criminal and should be put in jail.
Where did these people get the right to flaunt our justice system? Is it just because they hold public office, or work for those in office?
Their illegal actions can never be acceptable in a just society. Without this inquiry, we are letting a criminal element get away with its crimes.
If these same people had robbed a bank, then it would be different. Banks are privately owned, and thus, it seems, more worthy of more protection under the law than the public purse is.
Alan MacKinnon
Nanaimo