Donald Bennett Bayne

This is a voir dire ruling on the admissibility of expert opinion evidence from forensic accountant Mark Grenon regarding Senator Duffy's travel claims, financial practices, Senate contract funds, and a payment to the Receiver General.

The Crown sought to adduce comprehensive forensic accounting evidence analyzing Senator Duffy's expense claims submitted to the Senate, his personal financial situation, Senate funds procured and distributed through third parties, and a specific payment.

The defence objected to most of the evidence as overreaching, unnecessary, and prejudicial.

The court applied the two-step Mohan/Abbey framework for admissibility of expert evidence and admitted substantially all of the Crown's proposed evidence, with limited restrictions on the scope of certain areas.

The court ruled on the admissibility of the Eleventh Report of the Senate's Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration dated December 15, 2010.

The defence sought to admit the report as a public document and under the principled approach to hearsay.

The Crown opposed admission, arguing the report lacked reliability and constituted inadmissible hearsay.

The court found the report met the criteria for admissibility as a public document, demonstrating necessity, reliability, and relevance to the trial.

The report provided background information on Senate administrative rules and internal audit findings regarding senators' expense claims and administrative practices.