The appellant, a former Premier of Nova Scotia, was charged with numerous historic sex-related offences.
He sought a stay of proceedings, alleging abuse of process due to police prematurely identifying him as a suspect, a Crown attorney engaging in 'judge shopping', and the Crown conducting pre-charge interviews of complainants which allegedly compromised their objectivity.
The trial judge granted a partial stay of nine counts.
The Court of Appeal overturned the stay.
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that the conduct did not amount to an abuse of process warranting a stay.
The Court clarified that pre-charge Crown interviews are not inherently abusive and that a stay of proceedings is a prospective remedy reserved for the clearest of cases where prejudice will be perpetuated and no other remedy is capable of removing it.
