Quesnel Mayor Ron Paull has won his court case against the City over the censure and sanctions leveled against him.
BC Supreme Court Justice Veenstra handed down his decision on Monday.
He quashed the resolutions adopted at a meeting on April 30th of last year on the grounds of procedural fairness and awarded the Mayor full costs of the proceeding.
On the specific orders related to Board and Committee positions, Justice Veenstra noted that he didn’t have enough information, and that the parties could seek further direction from him if need be.
Mayor Paull was obviously happy with the decision and read the following statement.
“It goes without saying that I am so relieved with the long overdue 5-plus months Supreme Court ruling in my favour. My legal counsel and I are presently reviewing the 55 page decision so we have no immediate comment other than to say I am happy that this is all coming to an end and how I look forward to the pressing work that I was elected to do. My health has been impacted by this too long of a nightmare and I am working hard to find my old self. Most importantly I thank my dear wife Pat and my loving family for standing with me through such a difficult year. Even more importantly I thank my many, many friends, old and new, for their encouraging messages, calls, visits, cards, flowers, hugs, and above all for their prayers. I am truly humbled beyond words with gratitude. Thank you.”
Paull says he feels like the work of Council had been put on hold and agreed that they had been stuck in the mud.
“Absolutely. And that’s why I say in my statement that I am looking forward to getting back to the pressing work that I was elected to do. It’s like we’ve been stalled in neutral for the last number of months.”
He also noted that he was looking forward to moving on when it comes to working with First Nations.
“I mean there is a letter from the Nazko band on the agenda for tonight. (March 4) I’ve been invited to attend a sweat lodge at Lhtako and I’m going to do that. As much as people, certain people, a small number of certain people, want to sort of accuse me of trying to derail the reconciliation process, nothing is further from the truth. I’m looking forward to getting back to the table with the four nations, and I have some ideas that I want to share with them.”
Paull wasn’t sure when the sanctions against him might be lifted.
“I actually had a meeting with the City Manager this (Tuesday) morning and we have a Council meeting tonight, but it’s too late to get onto the agenda for tonight and the following meeting isn’t until March 25th. I expressed disappointment with the City Manager that I can’t put the bus into gear before then. When they issued the sanctions against me they removed me from committees, and I basically said because the judge has quashed the four key motions that came out of the meeting at which my sanctions and censure were leveled against me. But it’s not that simple because following that there were Council resolutions to appoint Tony Goulet to this and Laurey-Anne Roodenburg and so forth. Those resolutions have to be rescinded and it has to be done by Council resolution so it may take a couple of weeks to get everything into gear, but it is what it is.”
Council accused the Mayor of trying to distribute the controversial book Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the truth about Residential Schools) at a CRD meeting.
Paull denied the allegation and filed a petition in BC Supreme Court back in June.
– Files from George Henderson, My Cariboo Now staff
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