The Crown brought a motion to vacate a preliminary inquiry scheduled for September 23, 2019, arguing that new amendments to the Criminal Code restricting preliminary inquiries to offences with maximum penalties of 14 years or more should apply retrospectively to eliminate the court's jurisdiction to conduct the inquiry.
The accused had validly requested the preliminary inquiry in December 2018 under the former law.
The court held that the amendments should not apply retrospectively to cases where the right to request a preliminary inquiry had already vested prior to the legislative change.
The Crown's motion was dismissed and the preliminary inquiry proceeded as scheduled.
