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Ex-Hedley singer Jacob Hoggard concludes his testimony in sexual assault trial

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Jacob Hoggard wrapped up his testimony in his sexual assault trial Wednesday morning after the Crown cross-examined him on apparent gaps in his memory.

Hoggard has pleaded not guilty and denied raping, choking and hitting his accuser after his band Hedley performed at a concert eight years ago.

The ex-lead singer of the band told a jury this week that he and the complainant had a consensual one-night stand after flirting and kissing during a bonfire after-party following the Kirkland Lake, Ont., show.

Prosecutor Peter Keen tried to poke holes in Hoggard’s description of the night during cross-examination late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

He established that Hoggard doesn’t have a clear memory of the beginning of the sexual activity in his hotel room, whether there could have been attempted anal sex, as the complainant alleged, and whether Hoggard may have asked to urinate on the woman.

In the woman’s earlier testimony, she described feeling disgusted when, she said, Hoggard joined her in the shower following the alleged rape and asked if he could urinate on her. She said she told him no, but he did it anyway.

Hoggard has said the opposite happened. He said Tuesday that after the two engaged in oral sex in the bathtub, he asked her to urinate on him and she did so.

Keen tried to suggest to Hoggard that the urination would have been “much more in keeping with a coercive sexual encounter,” but defence lawyer Megan Savard objected.

“To suggest that certain types of sexual acts are inherently less consensual I think is highly problematic,” she said.

The prosecutor tried to rephrase the question but Savard rose for a second time.

“I’m going to object again, perhaps on behalf of every person in society who has any kind of fringe sexual practice,” she said. “I think this is an offensive line of questioning.”

Keen concluded his questions not long after that.

In her re-examination, Savard got several answers from Hoggard about his usual practices during sex. She asked whether he had any memory of actually urinating on the complainant.

“I would remember her letting me do that,” he said.

She also revisited the question of anal sex, and whether Hoggard would have attempted it prior to vaginal intercourse as the complainant said took place.

“I never do that first,” he said.

After Hoggard’s testimony, the lighting operator for the Hedley concert, Jeremy Van Delft, was called as a witness.

While Hoggard had told court he went straight from the concert to the hotel to build the bonfire, Van Delft said the band and crew, including Hoggard, went to a bar after the show before returning to the hotel.

At the bonfire, he said he saw Hoggard and a woman speaking, and at the end of the night he saw the two of them walking back toward the hotel together.

Van Delft said he saw them enter Hoggard’s hotel room via an interior hallway, and at least two other members of the crew or band were in the hallway at the same time.

The complainant had given a similar description of their entry into the room, while Hoggard had said he remembered entering through the room’s patio doors.

Savard’s co-counsel Kally Ho also asked Van Delft about common practice when it came to transporting the band back and forth, a job someone known as the “runner” would do.

The complainant had described entering a van outside the venue, along with members of the band and some teenage girls, in order to get to the bonfire after-party. Van Delft said it would have been “unlikely” and “unprofessional of the runner” to allow an unescorted fan inside the same vehicle as the band.

The defence was expected to call another crew member as a witness on Wednesday afternoon.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.



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Man found dead inside tent at New Brunswick homeless encampment

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ST. JOHN, N.B. – Police say a 44-year-old man was found dead inside a tent on Tuesday at a homeless encampment in Saint John, N.B.

A news release today says emergency crews received a report Tuesday evening about a body found at the encampment near the causeway over the Courtenay Bay Channel.

The release from the Saint John Police Force says first responders arrived just before 9 p.m. and confirmed the man’s death.

Investigators identified the man as Jamie Langille, and they say they don’t think his death was criminal.

Last month, 58-year-old John Surette died in a tent near Paradise Row, in the north end of the city.

Surrette was found not far from where three people died last winter in two separate tent fires.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Liberals won’t support Bloc motion on old age security: House leader

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OTTAWA – The Liberals say they will not support the Bloc Québécois in a House of Commons vote about increasing old age security payments for all seniors, despite an ultimatum by the opposition party that threatens to topple the minority government.

Liberal House leader Karina Gould said her party won’t vote in favour of a Bloc motion calling on Parliament to support their private member’s bill.

“This is not appropriate for an opposition day motion,” Gould said on Wednesday.

The Liberals were asked to give royal recommendation to a Bloc bill that would increase the old age security pension for seniors between 65 and 75 years old.

The Liberals increased the pension by 10 per cent for seniors over 75 in 2022 and the other opposition parties have backed the Bloc push to expand that.

It’s estimated the move would cost about $16 billion over five years.

Because it’s a financial bill, the change could not take effect without the government’s backing.

Gould said the government sets budgetary policies and wants to ensure it can continue to support seniors.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon lambasted the Bloc on Tuesday, saying the party continues to vote against measures that will help seniors, like dental care and pharmacare, and accused them of being “opportunistic.”

Health Minister Mark Holland said Wednesday morning he would be voting against the motion, saying it would set a “terrible precedent” on how to use private member’s bills.

“I don’t think Canadians would want $16 billion private member’s bills just coming in with no contextualization,” he said.

“I would think the Bloc would understand that as well.”

The Bloc has given the Liberals until Oct. 29 to pass the bill along with another one related to protecting the supply management system in international trade deals.

If that doesn’t happen, Leader Yves-François Blanchet has said he will begin negotiating with the other opposition parties about voting down the government.

The Conservatives have already used two of their opposition days to introduce non-confidence motions in the House in the last two weeks. The Liberals survived both votes with the votes of the Bloc and the NDP.

If a non-confidence vote were to pass it would bring down the minority government and would likely trigger an immediate election.

The Bloc will not get another opposition day this sitting, and won’t get a chance to introduce a non-confidence motion of their own. The NDP will get one, and the Conservatives will get another three before the House of Commons rises for Christmas in mid-December.

The number of opposition days allotted in each sitting is decided at the beginning of a session but the government decides when they are scheduled.

Members of Parliament were scheduled to take part in a confidence vote on Wednesday prompted by the government, but that has been delayed.

The ways and means motion that paves the way to legislate a change to capital gains taxes was initially scheduled for this afternoon but is on hold as the House of Commons deals with some unrelated matters of privilege.

The capital gains inclusion rate was adjusted in June and the motion before the House would allow the government to introduce the legislation to formalize the changes.

The NDP and Bloc have both supported those changes so the motion was expected to pass. But debate on matters of privilege have no specific timeline so it is not clear when the ways and means vote can be rescheduled.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Chinese Canadians tell inquiry of chilling effects of foreign interference publicity

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OTTAWA – A former Alberta politician says publicity about foreign interference is discouraging Chinese Canadians from seeking elected office or even making donations to candidates.

Teresa Woo-Paw, who sat in the Alberta legislature from 2008 to 2015, told a public inquiry today that members of the Chinese community are putting aside thoughts of running in elections because they don’t want their loyalty publicly questioned.

Woo-Paw, chair of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation since 2018, says these fears will have a generational impact with fewer Chinese Canadians elected to public office.

She says some also worry they will be accused of trying to interfere in an election if they donate to a nominee’s campaign.

Woo-Paw was among members of the Chinese community who told the inquiry of unintended chilling effects from the current public controversy over foreign interference.

The inquiry proceedings today feature a series of panels touching on issues including racism, public awareness, civil liberties and disinformation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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