Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Bourdeau seeks criminal charges against Gray


I see by motions filed in court in Toronto that whistleblower Norman Bourdeau wants to file criminal charges against L.H. Gray and Son Ltd.

It’s another chapter in the long-standing legal battles in Ontario’s egg industry.

The next step will be a closed-door hearing before a judge to determine whether there is sufficient basis to pursue Bourdeau’s request.

A judge could issue an arrest warrant against owner Bill Gray and/or senior company officials.

The judge might also order the defendants to appear in court to answer to the charges.

Or the judge could stay the charges, in effect putting them on hold to give Bourdeau more time to research and prepare his allegations and Gray’s lawyers more time to prepare responses.

Gray’s lawyers have been on the attack against Bourdeau, basically to muzzle his allegations by filing contempt of court motions. So far all but one of those motions has been dropped or dismissed and Bourdeau has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to take on the one case that resulted in a conviction.

Bourdeau filed another motion in the spring that included all of the allegations against Gray and Burnbrae Farms Ltd. that are part of an ongoing $33-million lawsuit filed against them by Sweda Farms Ltd. and Best Choice Eggs.

Bourdeau added a few more allegations to that list. None of the allegations have yet been tested in court, nor have the defence claims that they have done nothing wrong.

Bourdeau’s motion for criminal charges include:

-       - An allegation that L.H. Gray and Son Ltd. and senior company officials have destroyed evidence and that is in breach of the court order by Justice Peter Lauwers issued March 10, 2010.
-      - An allegation that the “contempt” motions filed by Gray’s lawyers are “an abuse of process with the intent of preventing me from further cooperating with law enforcement and regulatory agencies.”
-       - An allegation that Gray broke the law that protects whistleblowers from threats against an employee for contacting or being prevented from contacting federal or provincial agencies that enforce the law.

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