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BC AG Geoff Plant leaves and its about time!
Posted by: rick.barnes on http://PEJ.org Sunday, March 20, 2005 - 09:12 PM
37837 Reads
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BC AG Geoff Plant leaves and its about time! PEJ N News - Rick Barnes - Gordon Campbell's AG held little respect for the peons.
Geoff Plant was the first Attorney General to receive a vote of non confidence from BC Lawyers, he implemented the biggest cuts in legal aid in Canadian history, held a public referendum on treaty rights that was so flawed that it was widely ignored, and has watched while the Campbell government systematically ripped up legal and binding contracts with Teachers and BC Health care and community social services workers.
 Attorney General Geoff Plant ~ BC Govt PhotoPlant has also sat back while the Government contracted with American owned companies to collect, manage and maintain BC health, medical and financial (BC Hydro) information, putting the privacy of BC citizens at risk. Plant closed court houses across BC forcing many people to drive two or three hours to deal with legal matters.
Women have been especially hard hit by the AG's ministry. The AG removed mandatory charges in the case of domestic disputes. Often women were intimidated into dropping charges so the Crown would file charges in the event a woman is assaulted in a domestic dispute.
Now the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) is taking the BC Government to court over the cuts to legal aid. On February 19, 2005, the CBA announced a blue ribbon legal team to launch a challenge British Columbia?s legal aid plan.
We believe that a constitutional right to civil legal aid must be established in this country, and we believe that the situation is urgent,? said CBA President Susan McGrath of Iroquois Falls, Ont., in making the announcement at the 2005 CBA Mid-Winter Meeting. ?Without legal aid, access to justice is a hollow phrase, as many people simply cannot take advantage of their legal rights.? The legal team is headed by CBA Past President J.J. Camp, Q.C. , of the Vancouver law firm of Camp Fiorante Matthews, the team includes Sharon Matthews of the same firm, and Melina Buckley, Ph.D. and Gwen Brodsky, Ph.D. also of Vancouver.
What a shame, one who entered the job to high expectations, a reasonable voice in the Campbell government we thought. Four years later all he can point to is cutting legal aid by forty percent. It may the nice thing to to say, good luck as you leave, you are a nice guy. Geoff Plant leaves politics having implemented some of the more devastating attacks on the poor, working familes and the marginalised people in the history of this province. He is not respected by many of his peers, something that cannot be said for the man that held the job before him, Ujjal Dosanjh.
Rick Barnes is a political junkie on the left. He lives in Kelowna and is a contributing editor to PEJ NEWS
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