The LPC have dropped a Calgary candidate because he failed to disclose a domestic assault charge that was laid and stayed back in 2005.
Interesting tidbit from the article, parties have until the 22nd day of the campaign (April 13th) to replace a candidate.
Well I have to give credit where credit is due, and on the surface this seems like a reasonable move from the LPC.
Seems inconsistently enforced, re Evan Solomons
It
seems like his crime, in the eyes of the LPC, was not disclosing the information. Not the circumstances surrounding the charge.
...
Personally, I can understand the candidate not disclosing that information. And I can understand the LPC's position on it.
If someone doesn't have a criminal record, and the lone charge they were charged with was stayed, and that was 20 years ago...I actually don't blame him for not including/disclosing that to the LPC.
I'm far more concerned with what that individual has been up to for the last 5-10 years, rather than an anomaly that happened 20 years ago.
(That charge was stayed in pretty record time I should point out. In docket court, which tends to happen once a month in most jurisdictions, it pretty much means his charge was stayed before his 2nd court appearance - which means the basis for him being charged was so fundamentally flawed that his legal counsel just had to pick up the phone and make a call, or the Crown itself stayed the charge on their own initiative because of problems of some sort.)
So as we all know, whether someone is found guilty or not-guilty in a court of law certainly doesn't mean someone is actually guilty or not-guilty of the offense. But in the eyes of the law, aka from an official/technical perspective - that person is not guilty of the offence they were charged with.
In this case, the charge was stayed & not revisited by the Crown. It also happened 20 years ago.
So from a legal perspective, I dont know if he would have been required to disclose that information anyway?
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Personally I think the guy is a total f**kin' weirdo, and good riddance from politics and the public eye. I'm glad to see him go, and think he would have been a Calgary version of Randy Boissanault.
That being said, I just don't know the details around whether someone has to disclose a single stayed charge from 2 decades ago.
(Keeping in mind that most police agency applications ask whether people have ever been convicted of a criminal offence
for which a pardon has not been granted...)
(I'm sure someone far more knowledgeable on legal matters probably has a much more accurate take on the details of stuff like this. Either way, good riddance to this guy, IMO)