Law Times

Law Times • November 15, 2010 to fix the crumbling 136-year-old West Block on Parliament Hill. There's talk of political corruption, Hill reno a legal mess A Commons committee is in- vestigating how the govern- ment handed out contracts payoffs, bid rigging, lawsuits, and in- volvement by organized crime. The committee is now focusing on a $9-million bricks-and-mortar repair contract that two years ago went to LM Sauvé, a bankrupt Mon- treal masonry firm with mob links. Last week, Quebec cops located the Hells Angels heavyweight, Nor- mand Ouimet, who took over the firm two years ago. They promptly charged him with 22 counts of mur- der, but so far no allegations against him relate to either the LM Sauvé takeover or the West Block contract. LM Sauvé lost the contract last year after public servants conclud- ed the bankrupt firm didn't know what it was doing. A Montreal bonding company found itself holding the bag. Now, everybody involved from subcon- tractors on up is suing each other in order to get paid. The Mounties are running their own criminal investigation while Public Works and Government Ser- vices Canada officials are trying to play down the police probe as much as possible. Tom Ring, an assistant deputy minister, told the commit- tee there was no bid rigging and that making last-minute changes eight days before closing the contract was quite normal. The whole thing would be funny if it wasn't so sad. The Conservative government is trying to keep the lid on it, which isn't easy. Still, there's no question of calling a Gomery-style public inquiry. The best information so far has come from longtime Conservative back- room player and party loyalist Gilles Varin, who tripped all over himself while testifying before the commit- tee earlier this month. Sure, he was on retainer for LM Sauvé, he testified. But he never lobbied his Conservative buddies on behalf of his client. He just passed brochures around Ottawa to help his friend, LM Sauvé presi- dent Paul Sauvé, improve his pub- lic image. After all, Sauvé had lost his firm to the mob, gone bankrupt, and then lost his big government contract. A guy like that does need a little image help. According to Varin, Sauvé paid him between $5,000 and $10,000 every month for the efforts to im- prove his image. Of course, Cana- da Post might have charged a little less to distribute brochures. Varin also said he was paid an extra $70,000 after Sauvé got the $9-million contract but noted it wasn't because of any lobbying he had done. In addition, Varin was careful to stress that he wasn't a lobbyist. That's good for him because in Ottawa lobbyists have to be regis- tered, which Varin isn't. So Varin kept repeating that he was just talking to old friends among the Conservatives but wasn't trying to nail down con- tracts for his clients. He's absolutely sure he's not a lob- byist. "I'm a strategic consultant in The Hill By Richard Cleroux communications business develop- ment," Varin said proudly. Hmm. Run that one past us again, Gilles. What's a strategic consultant in communications business development? Opposition MPs were buying none of it. In the meantime, Varin said he took $118,000 from Sauvé over 30 months. Sauvé has been saying he paid Varin something like $140,000 to help the firm win gov- ernment contracts, not pass out bro- chures or fix his image. The Canada Revenue Agency will gladly help the pair sort out the little discrepancy. At the same time, Varin said it was just a coincidence that he attended a party fundraiser at a Montreal restaurant in Janu- ary 2009 at which former public works minister Christian Paradis was the guest of honour. It was also just a coincidence that it was LM Sauvé that organized the fundraiser, Varin said. The Liberals and New Demo- crats on the committee took great pleasure in listing well-known Con- servatives who attended the event and in linking Varin to former cabi- net minister Michael Fortier; Sen. Pierre Claude Nolin and his aide Hubert Pichet; Brian Mulroney confidant Fred Doucet; and Paul Terrien, chief of staff to Foreign Af- fairs Minister Lawrence Cannon. Meanwhile, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, speaking in the Commons under the pro- tection of parliamentary privilege, said some Conservative fundraisers in Montreal took place at a restau- rant owned by Ricardo Padulo, someone "close to the clan of Vito Rizzuto, an influential member of the Mafia." Conservative House Leader John Baird wasn't amused. He said Du- ceppe was crossing the line. Duceppe didn't repeat his comments outside the Commons. Speaking before the committee, Varin did a lot of ducking. Claiming he didn't have their permission, he refused to name his other clients. As well, testifying under oath, he said he has no criminal record. But he remembers being fined 35 years ago for something to do with a "profes- sional information commission" of which he was a member. NDP MP Pat Martin, however, reminded Varin that he was con- victed 30 years ago of five counts of fraud and breach of trust. Martin called it "shaking down a training school for personal gain." Varin said he got his last cheque from Sauvé in March 2009, which turns out to be about the same time the Public Works officials scrapped the West Block contract. Maybe Sauvé started using reg- istered mail to distribute his flyers after that. LT Richard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His e-mail address is richardcleroux @rogers.com. COMMENT Cartwright legal publishing Ltd., ends a historic run for the Cartwright name in Canadian legal publishing. The Cartwrights and legal publishing go way back to the 19th century. It all started with one of the publications now sold to Thomson Reuters: the Cana- dian Law List. In recent years, empire began with the Law List T he recent sale of Law Times and oth- er legal publications to Carswell, a branch of Thomson Reuters Canada the Law List has been partly an online service as the place to get con- tact data for any lawyer practising in Canada. But it has a long pedi- gree in print. Authoritative lists of Ontario lawyers had been attempted back to the 1820s, and in 1856 J. Rordans produced The Upper Canada Law Directory for 1857 by "attempt- ing for the first time to apply the principle of the English Law List to Upper Canada." Rordans published his lists regularly for 30 years. But in 1883, barrister H.R. Hardy declared: "It has been deemed advisable to publish a directory." He then produced a new law list of his own. Hardy's, as it was called, soon became an annual publication listing lawyers, judges, and other legal personnel right across the country. By 1898, you could buy the list either in pamphlet form for each province and territory or as a bound volume for the whole country. In 1898, Hardy hired an assistant editor, Henry Cartwright. He replaced Hardy as edi- tor in 1899 and thereby launched the Cart- wright dynasty. Henry would be editor of the Law List for a remarkable 58 years, although he kept Hardy's name in the title until 1951. By then, any self-respecting legal office Letters to the Editor CERTIFICATION FOR COURT REPORTERS NEEDED Well, it is interesting that the government is hav- ing issues with the certification of court interpret- ers (see "Testing interpreters: Good intentions gone bad," Law Times, Oct. 18). It is also interest- ing that, while it provides proficiency testing and requires interpreters to be certified, the court re- porter doesn't have to be certified by a body such as the Court Reporters' Association of Ontario. The court reporter employed by the govern- ment is deemed qualified without having to be a certified court reporter. It used to have the asso- ciation certify reporters but no longer recognizes this certification. The unacceptable and frightening part is DOCTORS, NOT PECORARO, THE REAL VILLAINS Recently, I Googled news for "Legal Aid Ontario" and two items popped up. The first item piles on in the frenzied vilification of Massimiliano Pec- oraro (see "'Sad day' for disbarred lawyer," Law Times, Nov. 1). Don't get me wrong — I think Pecoraro deserves some sort of rebuke. But for the Law Society of Upper Canada to punish him more severely than it has dozens of lawyers who have ripped off clients for more money than he overbilled legal aid is petty and self-serving. The second news item points out that most abused women go to court without a lawyer. But hey, they are just one in a long list of disad- vantaged groups that can't get legal aid since the Dalton McGuinty/Chris Bentley cuts. When it comes to taking money from the www.lawtimesnews.com That's History By Christopher Moore would have a bookshelf somewhere holding a long line of identical rusty-red coloured vol- umes. In Ontario, the Law List had a quasi- official function by assigning every Toronto law firm a number. When a non-Toronto firm had that number by its name in the list, it signified that the Toronto firm was its agent and legal papers delivered to the agent firm would be considered duly served. William B. Cartwright, one of several family mem- bers who contributed to the business, finally succeeded Henry as editor in 1958. Soon the Law List was being published by Cartwright and Sons, which then became The Cartwright Group Ltd., with Canada Law Book as one of its divisions. In 1983, the Law List proudly put "cen- tennial edition" on its spine and included a brief account of its origins. Canada Law Book and the Cartwright Group diversified into other legal publications and services, but the Law List would continue to be one of the company's key products. The Cartwright family's sale of the Law List to the Carswell division of Thom- son Reuters reintroduces an old partner. When Hardy first launched his publica- tion in 1883, Carswell and Company was his printer and sometimes his co-publisher until Henry established his family's own printing enterprise. In the meantime, the Law List continues in its role even without any Cartwrights involved anymore. LT Christopher Moore's newest book is The British Columbia Court of Appeal: The First Hun- dred Years. His web site is www.christopher moore.ca. that the person taking notes and record- ing in the courtroom may or may not be certified. It's been a short time since bad transcripts by unqualified report- ers made the news. It's only a matter of time before a bad transcript makes the news again. The government needs to recognize that we are professionals, be it an interpreter or a court reporter, and raise the bar to higher standards to ensure the rights of each and every person passing through the courtroom are being met in a fair and equitable manner and in the interest of justice. Court reporters are the guardians of the record, yet as they sit silently as they work, they go unno- ticed and unrecognized. Let's make sure they are not just qualified but also certified according to rules that require ongoing training and member- ship with a body such as the Court Reporters' As- sociation of Ontario. Lisa Cumber, Former vice president, Court Reporters' Association of Ontario government, Pecoraro is small fish compared to McGuinty/Bentley and the Canadian Medical Protective Association. Some of the money McGuinty sends to the association could instead go to legal aid. But McGuinty's stance is that taking away funding from doc- tors for their free lawyers just to help the poor won't ever happen. It is also the stance of Law Times and other voices that bow down to sa- cred cows like the association. When it comes to problems with legal aid, the press is pointing in all the wrong directions. The real villains are McGuinty, Bentley, the asso- ciation, the doctors, and those who write stories about how terrible Pecoraro is even as the poor and the disadvantaged can't get legal aid. Brian Francis, Caledonia, Ont. PAGE 7

• Cover
• For The Defence
• End Of An Era
• Focus On Labour and Employment Law