{"id":142944,"date":"2017-12-29T22:34:37","date_gmt":"2017-12-30T03:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=142944"},"modified":"2025-01-31T03:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T08:24:12","slug":"ex-federal-cabinet-minister-julian-fantino-takes-aim-at-judge-cops-lawyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/12\/29\/ex-federal-cabinet-minister-julian-fantino-takes-aim-at-judge-cops-lawyers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex federal cabinet minister Julian Fantino takes aim at judge, cops, lawyers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Julian<\/a>
Julian Fantino (Photo by Giovanni Aprea – Flickr: IMG_9733, CC <\/a>BY 2.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 Former Conservative cabinet minister and provincial police commissioner Julian Fantino has accused a Canadian judge, lawyers and several police forces of acting improperly and even illegally in the conviction and jailing of a man for contempt of court.<\/p>\n

In an extensive affidavit in which he raises the allegations, Fantino describes himself as a member of the Queen’s Privy Council and an expert who, in speaking for regular Canadians, can shed light on what he essentially posits as a possible judicial conspiracy involving secret backroom dealings.<\/p>\n

Fantino filed the affidavit in an unsuccessful effort to intervene in a recent Federal Court review of whether the Canadian Judicial Council properly dismissed a complaint by Donald Best, a former Toronto police officer and businessman, against Ontario Superior Court Justice Bryan Shaughnessy.<\/p>\n

\u201cA more thorough investigation by the (judicial council), now that all the facts are known, may show that the judge was wilfully blind,\u201d Fantino asserts. \u201cIt may very well be that the record belies the mischief that was being achieved simply because the judge had total control over the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2013, Shaughnessy found Best in civil contempt. The finding was the culmination of a convoluted battle started in 2007, when Best’s corporation unsuccessfully sued 62 defendants and he failed to pay their court-ordered legal costs.<\/p>\n

Shaughnessy’s rulings were upheld by Ontario’s top court and left undisturbed by the Supreme Court of Canada.<\/p>\n

Best turned to the Canadian Judicial Council in January 2016 to complain about the judge. Shaughnessy, he asserted, had engaged in \u201cegregious\u201d misconduct by, among other things, \u201csecretly\u201d changing a critical document.<\/p>\n

The council’s executive director rejected the complaint out of hand, prompting Best to ask Federal Court to review that decision. He named the government and judge as respondents.<\/p>\n

Fantino, who could not be immediately reached for comment, explains in his 33-page affidavit filed along with 100 exhibits why he wanted to get involved. The \u201cabuses,\u201d he said, could undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI notice that, in this matter, no one represents the people of Canada,\u201d Fantino states. \u201cNo one speaks for me and other Canadians who believe in and rely upon fairness, courtesy and honourable treatment within the justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his submission, Fantino maintains that Shaughnessy convicted Best \u201cupon the presentation by lawyers of provably false evidence.\u201d He also argues that \u201cdisturbing\u201d evidence suggests police resources and personnel were \u201cimproperly retained, used and co-opted\u201d to help one side in the private civil dispute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court also convicted Mr. Best based upon affidavit evidence that was the product of illegal actions by a serving officer of the Ontario Provincial Police at the time that I was OPP commissioner,\u201d Fantino states. \u201cHad I known about it at the time, I would have immediately ordered an investigation to gather all evidence…with a view to possible provincial and\/or criminal charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October, a Federal Court official dismissed Fantino’s motion to intervene in the review of how the judicial council handled Best’s judge complaint. Fantino, a former minister for veteran’s affairs, chief of police, and now an executive with a medical marijuana company, had raised issues that were out of bounds, the official decided.<\/p>\n

Fantino appealed his exclusion but the court nevertheless went ahead in the fall with its long-scheduled review of the judicial council’s actions.<\/p>\n

For his part, Shaughnessy urged the court to defer to the council, arguing in part that Best’s complaint was manifestly \u201cwithout substance\u201d or \u201can abuse of process.<\/p>\n

buy trazodone online https:\/\/www.soundviewmed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/png\/trazodone.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n

\u201d He also argued Best had tried to \u201cimpute bad faith into a decision he disagrees with, so as to define it as sanctionable conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

This month, Federal Court Judge Keith Boswell agreed with Ottawa and Shaughnessy that the judicial council’s decision was reasonable. Boswell dismissed Best’s application and ordered him to pay the federal government and the judge ,000 in legal costs.<\/p>\n

buy hydroxychloroquine online https:\/\/www.soundviewmed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/png\/hydroxychloroquine.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Best did not want to discuss Fantino’s involvement when reached on Friday. In a recent statement on his website, he did say Boswell’s decision contained \u201cgross errors.\u201d He filed notice of appeal this week.<\/p>\n

In an unusual decision in June 2016, the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered Best’s prominent Toronto lawyer Paul Slansky to pay $84,000 in legal costs for his client’s failed legal fights.<\/p>\n

The court found Slansky had wasted time and money unnecessarily by \u201cacting on unreasonable instructions from, or providing unreasonable advice to, his client.\u201d The court also ordered Slansky to pay another ,000 in costs.<\/p>\n

buy paxil online https:\/\/www.soundviewmed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/png\/paxil.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Former Conservative cabinet minister and provincial police commissioner Julian Fantino has accused a Canadian judge, lawyers and several …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":142954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[41173],"class_list":["post-142944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-ex-federal-cabinet-minister-julian-fantino","mauthors-colin-perkel","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287175,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142944\/revisions\/287175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}