OPP Officer Charged For Allegedly Falsifying Traffic Stops

facebook photo

Another OPP SGT charged, this all around stand up guy, great community leader is suspended with PAY, this officer has his day in court July 13th, Unlike his Victims whom had their trial on the side of the road!
If you think you were unfairly stopped by this officer and have a complaint to make, call (905) 278-6131

Friday May 29, 2009
CityNews.ca Staff
The OPP have arrested and suspended one of their own, after an officer was accused of laying charges against three different drivers for speeding or violating the new street racing law based on false evidence.

One was accused of exceeding the posted limit, while the other two were alleged to have violated the province's street racing law and had their licences suspended and their cars temporarily seized. The OPP Professional Standards Bureau won't say how they came across the accusations but admits all charges against the trio have since been withdrawn.

Insp. Dave Ross won't say what the motive might have been.

The allegations make other stops Sgt. Dennis Mahoney-Bruer may have been involved with suspect as well and a review of all his past cases is underway. Ross tells CityNews.ca that could keep investigators busy for a while - as many as 200 provincial cases and 50 criminal cases are being given a second look.

The 49-year-old cop has been a member of the force for 12 years and is based in Port Credit. His primary patrol area is the QEW and Highway 403.

The accused has been suspended from duty with pay and will appear in a Brampton court on July 13th. He's charged with three counts of breach of trust and one of obstructing justice.

Commissioner Julian Fantino, often cited as a 'cop's cop,' is disappointed by the outcome but says it's vital the public knows he won't stand for anything untoward in the ranks.

"It was important for the OPP to initiate an immediate investigation and a comprehensive review, with the intent to bolster safeguards, to prevent similar situations in the future," he notes in a statement. "I believe that the public trust is a fundamental cornerstone of the OPP and policing."

If you think you were unfairly stopped by this officer and have a complaint to make, call (905) 278-6131.

CityNews

Withdrawn charges can stay on record, court rules

Scary stuff in the POLICE STATE of Ontario


Man says police check with false accusations ruined job prospects

Tracey Tyler
LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER

The stigma of being accused of a criminal offence is almost impossible to escape, a Mississauga man learned yesterday when Ontario's highest court ruled police could disseminate information about charges that were laid against him, but later withdrawn.

The man, a former group home operator in his 60s who has never been convicted of a crime, said his employment chances were ruined when Peel police disclosed that eight charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation were laid against him in 2002 and later withdrawn by the Crown.

In a 3-0 decision yesterday, the Ontario Court of Appeal set aside an injunction issued by a Toronto trial judge two years ago, which restrained police from referring to the withdrawn charges when providing information for background checks conducted for the man's prospective employers.

The ruling has the potential to affect a large number of people. A one-day snapshot from a police database in 2005, obtained by the Star for its Crime and Punishment series last year, revealed the Canadian Police Information Centre had some 500,000 records for people without convictions. They included records for people who were acquitted as well as those whose charges were stayed or withdrawn.

Even if withdrawn charges included in reports from record checks were based on false allegations, a person applying for a job still has an opportunity to explain these circumstances to a would-be employer, said Justices Marc Rosenberg and Kathryn Feldman, who co-authored the court's decision.

But Clayton Ruby, one of the lawyers representing the former group-home operator, said the truth is that employers faced with two or more equally qualified job applicants will not hire the person who was once charged with a crime, even if they are entirely innocent.

"Essentially, it (the court's ruling) condemns people who have had charges withdrawn, innocent people, to second-class status on the employment market," Ruby said.

In an affidavit, his client said the charges were "false and without merit" and he described the group home as his sole source of income. When the charges were withdrawn in 2003, he agreed to enter into a peace bond that temporarily prohibited him from being in the company of anyone younger than 14.

The following year, he applied for work at other group homes and as a counsellor, was required to undergo police checks. He signed forms authorizing Toronto police to conduct a criminal records search, as well as a "vulnerable persons search" – which allowed the force to comb through national and local data banks. Peel police forwarded its information about the withdrawn charges to Toronto.

But in a decision last year, Superior Court Justice William Somers said disclosing information about withdrawn charges was not authorized by statute and seemed to be just a practice or custom, one that had "a basic unfairness" about it.

Although the man signed forms consenting to the search and disclosure of information, the forms didn't specify that withdrawn charges might be included in information and he may well have expected that to remain private, Somers said. The appeal court yesterday, however, accepted Peel police arguments that there were good reasons for believing the man knew information about the withdrawn charges could be disclosed.

After receiving the results of the criminal records search, the man was asked to consent to another search – the "vulnerable persons search" – that would have signalled that information other than a criminal record could be disseminated.

As well, the man kept applying for record checks after having been turned down for jobs. Even if he didn't initially know the withdrawn charges would be mentioned in the police reports, "he certainly knew once he received the reports and once he was turned down for the social work jobs he was applying for."

The Toronto Star

'Bury' new tax, McGuinty told

Why would he bury it, when everybody likes this NEW TAX according to his Finance Minister Dwight Duncan!

Mr Duncan, do the sensible thing and follow Mr. Bryant, Rumor has it that Toronto is looking for a project leader for painting the yellow lines down Jarvis St.



Premier faces pressure from fellow Liberals to embed blended levy in prices next year

May 28, 2009 04:30 AM

Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau Chief

The Liberal government is struggling over whether to bury Premier Dalton McGuinty's new 13 per cent harmonized sales tax in the price tags of goods and services, sources told the Toronto Star.

Insiders say there is mounting pressure on McGuinty to follow the lead of such places as the United Kingdom, where the price tags on items displayed in shops incorporate the retail price and a 15 per cent value-added tax.

The Liberals have had difficulty marketing the tax change, which is designed to be business friendly and enable Ontario to better compete with jurisdictions already boasting harmonized taxes, such as Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Some Liberals are urging the premier to embed the HST, which will combine the 8 per cent provincial sales tax and the 5 per cent GST, in prices after it takes effect July 1, 2010.

Proponents of incorporating the tax into price tags argue it would simplify things for consumers and businesses alike so a product or service labelled $10 would actually cost that – rather than $11.30.

A post-budget analysis by the law firm Blakes predicts the HST "will likely have less of a psychological impact on consumers if tax-inclusive pricing is adopted (i.e., if the sticker price is the final sale price)" – a consideration unlikely to be lost on a government that has been scrambling for a way to sell the tax to dubious Ontarians.

A Star-Nanos Research poll published May 16 found 67 per cent of people polled have a negative view of the melded tax compared with 23 per cent who see it as positive and 10 per cent who are unsure.

Other Liberals, however, are concerned "tax-inclusive pricing" would only highlight how much more goods and services are costing after the HST is implemented, which could hurt in the 2011 election.

McGuinty confirmed yesterday that the change is on his radar.

"That's something that's been talked about," the premier said. "It's not something that's been actively considered at this point in time. It wasn't part of our original proposal," he said before pointedly leaving open the possibility of just such a move. "It might end up being there. But what ... I certainly made clear that, whatever we do, we'd want transparency to be there."

When Ottawa in 1991 replaced the manufacturers' tax, which was included in price tags, with the GST, the visibility of the new levy was touted as a benefit.

Despite growing anxiety within the government, the premier and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan are insisting any pricing revamp would have to indicate the amount of HST.

To get around criticism of gouging, two figures could be printed on a price tag: the retail price and the price including the 13 per cent HST.

"What I mean ... by transparency is even if you go shopping ... you'd have the final price right there in front of you like they do in the U.K.," said the premier. "But also we'd want to have made visible in that final price the actual tax that you're paying."

Duncan, who unveiled the melding of the provincial and federal consumption taxes in the March 26 budget, said "people have to see what the harmonized tax will be.

"Both in my view on the price tag and on the receipt," he said, adding "you could have both" prices on a retail product.

Boosters of an all-inclusive price tag also argue a switch to "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" pricing, which would require federal legislation, might force businesses to pass along savings realized after the taxes are streamlined.

Because pricing is a finely honed craft, there would be more of an onus on businesses to keep prices reasonable to remain competitive.

"This lets the marketplace decide. Business costs will be lower, the tax on take-home pay will be lower," one insider said.

The Retail Council of Canada warned Feb. 17 that "practices for the pricing of merchandise must be a business decision, not a government decision, and should not be legislated."

Blakes' report published April 1 said if Ontario adapted an embedded tax, other provinces with harmonized sales taxes would likely follow suit.

The Toronto Star

McGuinty at his finest!!

I just love how our tax dollars get pissed away and Daddy Dalton gets all concerned!

Government concerned by eHealth spending: McGuinty

Premier's concern 'cold comfort' for taxpayers: Runciman

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty admitted his government is concerned with news of nearly $5 million in untendered contracts by newly minted eHealth Ontario and wants to speed up a review of their spending practices.

In the face of sharp criticism from opposition parties at Queen's Park Thursday, McGuinty responded, "This is a concern to us, as well."

"There are some facts that have been brought to the fore which do not sit easy with us," he added.

CBC News reported Wednesday that eHealth Ontario CEO Sarah Kramer approved about $4.8 million in contracts without opening up the deals to outside bidders during the first four months of the agency's operation.

"This is your appointee, this is your agency. To say that you're concerned is cold comfort, I would think, to taxpayers," interim Progressive Conservative Leader Bob Runciman replied to McGuinty in the legislature.

Late last September, McGuinty announced the creation of eHealth to set up to create a digital record system by 2015 to allow health-care providers to electronically share patient information.

It was formed as a merger of an e-health program at the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care and Smart Systems for Health Agency (SSHA), an organization that had come under criticism for spending on consultants and for lacking a strategic plan.

"The very reason that we want to move ahead with an electronic health record system in Ontario is to deliver better health care by finding greater efficiencies and being more respectful of the Ontario taxpayer dollar," McGuinty said in the legislature.

Workers fired for challenging procurement: sources
New information also surfaced Thursday that nine senior eHealth employees — including the acting director of procurement and chief legal counsel — were fired between December and March. Sources told CBC News that some of them had challenged the agency's tendering practices.

Kramer denied the allegations, saying workers were let go due to skill-based reasons and said the agency has encouraged its workers to express any concerns they have.

The eHealth CEO has defended the agency's procurement policy as justified because of the rapid transition process from SSHA to eHealth.

"We needed to turn a big ship around very quickly. If you don't turn a big ship around quickly, it'll be 2015 and we'll be floating out to sea," Kramer said.

She wouldn't speak to specifics about questions raised about bills obtained by CBC News showing an executive assistant hired for $213 per hour, or about $1,700 a day.

Ontario's auditor general is currently investigating spending at eHealth and its predecessor, SSHA, with plans to unveil his findings in a December annual report.

But McGuinty said he welcomes recommendations "sooner rather than later" from the auditor general.

Documents show Kramer earns a base salary of $380,000 and received a $114,000 bonus in March, about five months after her start date.

The next month, Kramer announced in a memo that the company was cutting back on employee bonuses.

Kramer's expenditures also came under scrutiny in April when opposition members complained she spent $51,500 on office furniture.

Documents also raised concerns about two of eHealth's consultants who are listed as senior vice-presidents and commute to Toronto on a regular basis from their homes in Alberta, at a cost of $1.5 million a year for flights, accommodation and per diems.

Another consultant, who charged $300 an hour, billed the agency for reading a New York Times article, reviewing Kramer's holiday voicemail greeting and a debriefing that took place during a chat on the Toronto subway system.

Asked whether Kramer got value for some of the questioned expenses, she replied, "I do think I got value for money and the way I know is everything that we wanted to get done got done on time, on budget, and in many cases much better than we hoped could be done."

cbcnews.ca