Letters to The Sun, Jan. 14, 2020: Is our parks board suited to deal with Oppenheimer Park?
Credit to Author: Carolyn Soltau| Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2020 02:00:58 +0000
I have always been proud that our city has the separate and elected parks board to look after our cherished public spaces and parks. I do not know the mandate of the parks board, but I have always assumed it was set up so that parks decisions were not solely based on political will from city hall or subject to the whims of budget efficiency.
I have chosen parks board members for different reasons than I chose city councillors — I may want my parks people Green and my city hall members fiscally prudent. Recent events in Vancouver parks have overstepped what the parks board was created to do. Is the board the correct political voice to deal with political dissent and flagrant law breaking that is the April 20 cannabis “protest” at Sunset Beach?
And how does my elected parks board now find themselves deeply involved in social policy, mental health, and court injunctions? The Oppenheimer Park encampment.
It is time for city hall to take control of this escalating social, public health and crime problem. Oppenheimer Park stopped being a park problem when people are being killed. Being the location of Vancouver’s first murder of 2020 should be a signal that it is time for police and political action.
When the park is cleared of lawlessness, the parks board can resume taking care of it.
Doug Lavender, Vancouver
Re: Trial mismanagement turns express into milk run
It is erroneous to blame plaintiff’s lawyers for trial inefficiency and the attendant increase in expense. A trial lawyer working on a contingency fee basis wants his case to proceed as expeditiously as possible. Any given claim has a certain value, and the quicker and more efficiently that value is recovered the better. Clients want their case resolved quickly and inexpensively while taking up as little of their time as possible.
Efficient and inexpensive resolution of cases makes them more economic for lawyers retained on a contingency. What protracts litigation is ICBC’s scorched-earth approach to defending claims and securing jury trials in the simplest of cases. With regard to the former, ICBC routinely seeks many years of prior medical records and employment records along with all social media posting and anything thing else they can get their hands on in the hope of uncovering a smoking gun. I doubt a day passes in this province where ICBC does not have a lawyer in court asking a judge for records. This approach protracts litigation and costs ratepayers dearly.
With regard to the latter, ICBC typically secures jury trials in simple cases. Jury trials are more expensive, longer and use more court resources. The fast-track procedure was instituted years ago largely in response to ICBC’s tactic of using juries for simple cases. The court said, at the time, our system cannot afford jury trials in simple cases. Rather than passing unconstitutional laws limiting expert reports and the rights of injured British Columbians, Attorney-General David Eby should review how ICBC defends cases.
Contingency lawyers are all in for short, inexpensive trials. The pre-trial discovery process needs to be limited by legislation or judge-made law. The right to a jury trial should also be limited, or conversely the applicability of the fast-track rule (wherein there is no jury) should be expanded. Eby should work with all involved parties, including trial lawyers, to reform litigation rather than rely solely on ICBC which ignited this “dumpster fire”.
Matthew Fahey, Westpoint Law Group, Vancouver
Dissing the U.S. border services for taking extra time with people with ties to Iran at this time is naive. Of course, the U.S. has the right to vet anyone entering their country, as does Canada and also Iran.
May I politely point out that both the Air India and Narita Airport terrorist bombings were planned by terrorist organizations in Canada. And it was only the U.S. border services doing excellent work that prevented Ahmed Ressam from detonating his 190 pounds of explosives in his planned terror attack.
R. Barrett, North Vancouver
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