HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2007-01-24, Page 6Page 6 January 24, 2007 • The Huron Expositor
Opinion
Original trial peppered with too many lies, cover-ups
From Page 4
examined Harper's body did not
have the evidence to support his
finding that she died within a 45 -
minute time frame on the night of
June 9, 1959.
Pollanen said she could have died
the day after — a time when
Truscott was in school all day. That
provides for a very reasonable doubt
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by court standards.
The court has been told evidence
was ignored, a key witness lied and
tried to persuade another witness to
lie and the evidence that pinpointed
the time of death was inadequate at
best.
The court has heard, in other
words, that there was simply not
enough evidence to convict Truscott
for this crime.
In 2004, we didn't need Cotler to
order a hearing on the fresh evi-
dence. We needed the federal justice
minister to order the court to order
a new trial or acquit Truscott based
on the fact there wasn't enough evi-
dence.
We needed to bring back all the
witnesses who are still alive and
use everything modern forensic sci-
ence could offer.
Instead, the buck got passed on
down the line.
Now, on Jan. 29, the Ontario
Court of Appeal will begin to hear
oral arguments from both the
Crown and defence teams on the
new evidence presented at the hear-
ings in 2006.
In the next six months, the court
will render its final verdict in this
long saga.
Steven Truscott deserves a real
second chance at justice — not
because we know who actually did
the crime, but simply because his
original trial was peppered with too
many lies, cover-ups, botched inves-
tigations and a complete lack of
effort to uncover the truth about the
murder of Lynne Harper.
As a community, Clinton will
never regain its innocence of the
1950s, but Steven Truscott deserves
this chance to have his declared,
once d for all.
Oct. 4 referendum will
give chance to create
a fair voting system
From Page 5
good measures that the previous
party put into place.
They are tired of the shenani-
gans politicians play to order to
make the opposition look bad or to
oust them from power. They want
politicians to roll up their shirt
sleeves, look at the issues and,
instead of wasting our tax dollars
in an adversarial modus operandi,
to get down to the important busi-
ness of running our country and
our province.
Important issues such as energy
production, the agricultural crisis
and global warning will not wait.
Our governments need to take the
bull by the horns and address
these issues.
Most Canadians are unaware
that almost every country in the
world is run by a different form of
fair voting system. Even within
the United Kingdom which uses
first -past -the -post, the national
governments of Scotland and
Wales have proportional voting.
Of course, the United States
does not have fair voting - and
look how electing George Bush
with a minority of votes and a
majority of seats has turned out
for them!
I would urge members of all
political parties who care about
their province and their country to
ptease find out more about the fair
voting system.
An internet search will allow
you to make an online presenta-
tion directly to the Ontario
Citizen's Assembly on Electoral
Reform.
Fair Vote Canada's website has
lots of information, too. And hope-
fully the press will continue to
educate Ontarians on this impor-
tant process.
When the Ontario Citizen's
Assembly makes its recommenda-
tion to either retain or change the
electoral system, all Ontarians
will get to vote on that recommen-
dation.
This will occur on Oct. 4 at the
same time as the Ontario election.
The results of the referendum
don't go into effect until four years
after that, so it is important to
vote in this critical referendum.
British Columbians tried this
during their last election and just
barely missed winning their refer-
endum by a two per cent vote. So
it's important to get the word out
and to get everyone out to vote.
Here's the irony. Over 60 per
cent of voters will have to agree to
the recommendation in the refer-
endum to make it law. But you can
elect the next government with a
lot fewer votes than that!
Wilhelmina Laurie
RR 3 Clinton