Hearing into Saint John Harbour election result halted over alleged improprieties

A court hearing over alleged voting discrepancies in the riding of Saint John Harbour came to an abrupt halt Wednesday over allegations the lawyer representing Progressive Conservative candidate Barry Ogden failed to disclose he obtained privileged documents related to the case.

Elections New Brunswick lawyer Fred McElmanalleges Kelly VanBuskirkcame into possession of notes prepared for the province's legal team and "used" the information, which he contendsviolates the Law Society of New Brunswick's code of conduct.

McElman called for VanBuskirkand his firm, Lawson Creamer,to be removed from the case.

VanBuskirkargued the information should be made public in the interest of transparencyand in fairness to Ogden and MLA Gerry Lowe, the Liberal candidate who won the riding by 10 votes in the Sept. 24 provincial election.

"This information appears to be important to the public interest," he told the Court of Queen's Bench.

Saint John Harbour was the closest race in the province and became central to the fight for power between the PCs and Liberals. Neither party won the 25 seats required for a majority in the 49-seat legislature.

Avote recount on Oct. 4 confirmed Ogdenlost, but his legal team is now seeking to have the election resultoverturned.

VanBuskirkhad allegedpolling station officials in the hotly-contested riding violated the Elections Act by recording 40 voter identification numbers twice in voting logs.

The court was expected to hear testimony Wednesday from PattiNason, a long-time municipal returning officer.

But Justice HughMcLellanadjourned the hearing until Friday at 9 a.m. to give VanBuskirktime to respond to McElman'smotion for him to be removed.

VanBuskirkdeclined to comment outside the courthouse.

The document at issue"contains information to advise me," McElmantold the court, noting the bottom of each page states"prepared for use by ENB solicitor."

Under the Law Society's code of conduct, whena lawyercomes into possession of "a document or thing that the lawyer has or ought to have reasonable grounds to believe belongs to or is intended for another person," he or she must cease reading the material, return it and purge anycopies.

VanBuskirk"refused to tell me how he came into possession of this document" anddeclined, when first asked, to return it, said McElman.

The document was turned over to the province's legal team 10 minutes before the hearing was scheduled to begin, he said.

I know I didn't do [anything]wrong and I'm pretty sure nobody on my team did [anything] wrong.- Gerry Lowe, Saint John Harbour LiberalMLA

Lowe told reporters the dispute between the lawyers caught him by surprise.

"I got there a little bit early and the lawyer for [Elections NB], he was really mad and he was over arguing with the lawyer for the other side there so I didn't understand it, but I knew something was wrong," he said after the hearing.

"I'm not a lawyer, I'm a taxi driver, so I don't understand it all, right? But I knew he was upset."

Lowe said he's moving ahead and getting settled into his new office, but he is anxious for the matter tobe resolved.

"I know I didn't do [anything]wrong and I'm pretty sure nobody on my team did [anything] wrong," he said.

"I just want it overwith and I can go on with what I'm doing."