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Monday, October 5, 2009

To Litigate or Not to Litigate


As you may be aware, the city is litigating against the Federal Government over the RedHill Expressway project. A report on the status of this matter has been overdue for several months now. C.A.T.C.H. reports that thus far, the cost of the legal action has cost the taxpayer $243,224.00.

In essence, the suit alleges that four former Federal Cabinet Ministers and 65 federal employees conspired to block or delay the construction of the Redhill, via an environmental assessment, which was subsequently stopped by a April 2001 court decision.

In early 2008, council voted to lift the cap of this legal expenditure, which was previously set at $450,000.00, therby presumably, leaving an open ended potential expenditure.

Clr Clark, for one, has expressed concern over the amount of time the status report has remained overdue.

I suspect this case is somewhat unprecedented, given that it is one level of government suing another.

I realize that this "horse is out of the barn" but, do you think it's too risky? Is it still worth pursuing? Take the poll on the right of this blog, and provide additional comments here.

Special thanks to the good people at C.A.T.C.H. for their stellar reports.
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4 comments:

  1. MAWOctober 05, 2009

    When a council member has to use an FOI request to get a handle on the cost of a lawsuit funded by the taxpayers, one wonders what else is in the closet, yet to be discovered?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brian Henley +October 05, 2009

    There is definitely a "Bleak House" feel to this law suit. Although I don't claim to be aware of all the complexities in this case, it would seem likely that such an action could go on for many, many years, decades even, with the only people getting anything out of all of it being lawyers. I would prefer that my property tax payments be spent on things useful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 05, 2009

    There's more common sense on this blog then there is at city hall. Its easy to waste money on this stuff when the money's not yours.

    Elvis P.

    ReplyDelete
  4. WRCU2October 05, 2009

    I couldn't say IT any better than Mark-
    Alan, Brian + or Elvis P. already did.
    This is one of the reasons why we have
    44,000 lawyers in Ontario organizing
    (water) closets.

    We have only had a taste of things to
    come with the July 26 storm breaching
    the banks of the Red Hill Creek.

    Use the funds being wasted on mounds
    of legal documents, lunches & loos,
    fixing the damaged trails, fencing
    and erosion control blockades NOW!

    BTW - I love it when Cal puts
    interesting images alongside
    the posts ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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