A well
known Saint John lawyer Rod Gillis -- who represented St. Stephen Chief Administrative Officer John Ferguson in his battle with the Saint John Pension Board -- is scheduled to be in court today in
Moncton at a sentencing hearing for attempting to obstruct justice.
The actual sentence itself
won't be delivered by Judge Irwin Lampert until a later date because of
all the documentation that has to be gone through.
The charge was laid in connection with Gillis's legal representation of former Liberal M-L-A Frank Branch.
The
former Speaker of the Provincial Legislature was charged with fraud and
extortion. He was also also legally involved in a civil suit against the
North Shore Forest Products Marketing Board. Branch pleaded guilty to
fraud over 5 thousand dollars, ordered to pay restitution and was
sentenced to house arrest and probation.
Meanwhile,
according to the Law Society of New Brunswick website, Gillis has been
suspended from practicing law but there's no explanation why.
An
investigation will be carried out in Ontario by an independent third
party into how watered down chemotherapy drugs were given to more than
1,100 patients, including 186 at the Saint John Regional Hospital.
The
issue of whether privatization of the preparation of the chemo drugs
might have been a factor has been raised by Ontario's Health Minister
after a pharmacy technician noticed a discrepancy in the amount of fluid
in some of the bags.
Chief
of Staff Dr. John Dornan is promising the Regional Hospital is going to
be a lot more careful in the future. He's vowing there will be more
specificity with suppliers.
Most
hospitals mix the medications themselves and, even though the Regional
has a new supplier, Dr. Dornan says it's a possible option.
With
repeated arson attempts, vandalism, and other issues at buildings
throughout Saint John, city police are looking for better ways to remedy
the ongoing issues.
Police
Chief Bill Reid tells Tide News some areas including King Square could
soon be outfitted with closed-circuit cameras to catch the culprits in
the act.
Reid says it's not totally new -- the police force has
already installed cameras where there's an ongoing crime problem with
the permission of the property owners.
