B.C. argues against Taser company's lawsuit

VANCOUVER -- An application by Taser International to have the Thomas Braidwood study commission's findings dismissed should be thrown out of court, the provincial government argued Monday.

Craig Jones, a government lawyer, told a B.C. Supreme Court justice in chambers that Taser, the manufacturer of conducted-energy weapons used by police forces, is wrongly arguing that Braidwood's study commission into how the province should use the weapons, has harmed the company's reputation.

Lawyers for Taser International are in court seeking a judicial review of Braidwood's work. They have not yet made submissions to Justice Robert Sewell but will do so later this afternoon.

The province is asking Sewell to dismiss Taser's application for the judicial review.

Jones, in a strongly-worded argument, said Taser is seeking to confuse Braidwood's study commission with a second hearing he conducted into the death of Robert Dziekanski two years ago at Vancouver International Airport.

Shortly after Dziekanski's death the province ordered Braidwood to conduct two commissions of inquiry. The first was a study commission into the use of the weapons. The second was a formal hearing into the circumstances around Dziekanski's death.

The differences between those two commissions is substantive, Jones argued, because in the first one Braidwood did not have the power to find fault or to hear submissions under oath. For that reason it isn't subject to the Judicial Review Procedure Act, he said, noting that Braidwood did not make any findings of fault when he issued his report on June 18, 2009.

Taser is arguing that language Braidwood used in his study commission report harmed its reputation. It has also accused the Braidwood commission of omitting some of its submissions in the final report, and accused lead commission counsel Art Vertlieb of bias and Dr. Keith Chambers, a commission expert witness, of being dishonest, Jones said in court. It also argues that it should have been consulted about how the weapons should be used.

All of those are "fantastic" allegations that are incorrect and should be dismissed, Jones said, noting that governments have the right to buy battleships but the manufacturers don't have the right to tell governments how to use them.

The hearing continues.