Michael J. Bryant (born April 13, 1966) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician. He is the executive director and general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Bryant is a member of the Liberal Assembly of Ontario Legislature, representing downtown Toronto driving St. Paul from 1999 to 2009. He was a senior member of Dalton McGuinty's provincial cabinet, first as Attorney General, becoming the youngest province the post had ever owned, and later as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister of Economic Development and Government House Leader.
Bryant left provincial politics to assume the post of chief executive of the new Toronto Investant, a municipal agency with a mandate to attract investment and facilitate economic development. An argument with a cyclist in 2009 caused Bryant to be sued for the death of a cyclist; the allegations were withdrawn in 2010, with prosecutors describing cyclists as attackers in the incident.
Video Michael Bryant (lawyer)
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Bryant grew up in the Greater Victoria area of ​​British Columbia, where his father Ray was the mayor of Esquimalt from 1966 to 1969. Known for his "streaks" he was trained as a boxer from childhood.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in 1988, and a Master's degree from the same institution in 1989. Bryant is also a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity at UBC. He graduated in 1992 from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto with a law degree. and the silver medalist of the year. He then earned an LL.M. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1994. Bryant is a Fulbright Member. He worked for the Supreme Court of Canada in 1992-1993, and later became a lawyer at the firm Sullivan & amp; Cromwell in New York City, as well as teaching legally at King's College London in England, and practicing litigation in the McCarthy TÃ © Ã © trault. In 1997, he became professor in international law at the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto.
Bryant is married to Susan Abramovitch, an entertainment lawyer, and they have two children, Sadie and Louis. The couple split up in December 2010.
Maps Michael Bryant (lawyer)
Politics
Bryant was elected to the Ontario legislature in provincial elections in 1999, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative Cabinet minister Isabel Bassett in St. Paul by nearly 5,000 votes. Bryanten Wynne, 328 votes to 143. Progressive Conservative Government was re-elected, and Bryant served in Criticism of the Opposition to the Attorney General for the next four years.
He was re-elected by a larger majority in the 2003 provincial elections. The Liberals won a majority rule in this election, and Bryant was appointed Ontario's Attorney General and Minister with responsibility for Indigenous Affairs and Democratic Reform. While the Attorney General he helped create a controversial Stunt Driving law in Ontario, which aims to reduce street racing, and support seizing and destroying modified vehicles for street racing. Bryant is also a strong proponent for the complete ban of pistols in Canada, at one point launched a website called "No Gun, No Funeral".
Bryant was re-elected in the 2007 elections. He was appointed Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Government Building Leader on October 30, 2007. On September 18, 2008, he became Minister of Economic Development, replacing Sandra Pupatello.
On May 23, 2009, Bryant announced that he would leave provincial politics to become CEO of the newly established Toronto Invest company, with Dalton McGuinty taking over his portfolio of Economic Development. Bryant denied that his departure as a result of a fall with McGuinty, although reports indicate that Bryant's overt nature and ambition for Premier job may have been a controversy within McGuinty's inner circle. Bryant's resignation came into effect June 7, 2009. Eric Hoskins retained the seat for the Liberals in the mid-term elections held on September 17, 2009.
Cabinet position
2009 criminal charges
On September 1, 2009, Bryant was taken into police custody after an altercation with cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard on a street in downtown Toronto that resulted in the death of Sheppard. Bryant was later charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous riders who caused death in connection with the incident. On May 25, 2010, prosecutor Richard Peck withdrew all charges against Bryant from the incident, stating that "there is no reasonable prospect of punishment".
Incident
On the night of August 31, 2009, Bryant and his wife were on their way home in Saab convertible after celebrating their 12th wedding anniversary. At one point, they passed a cyclist, Darcy Allan Sheppard, who according to an interview with Bryant threw the garbage and held off traffic by executing the number eight on his bike. As they approached the pedestrian crossing, Sheppard stopped in front of Bryant's vehicle with a red light. The next event was captured in a security camera.
According to Bryant his vehicle stalled when he stopped behind Sheppard. His car then slid forward from his attempt to restart a vehicle carrying a car near or in contact with Sheppard tires. The expert analysis of security camera recordings confirms the car's headlights dimmed in a manner consistent with this explanation and that the vehicle has "sensitive and lightweight clutch". The crown also decided that there was no damage to the rear wheel's rim of the bike. Witnesses say that Sheppard confronts Bryant and his wife "aloud and aggressively" while they "remain passive". The subsequent car movement resulted in Sheppard ending on the hood of the car. The car covers 30 feet, lasts 2.5 seconds, the car speed between 9 and 13.4 km/h and the brake is applied after 1 second. According to Bryant he looks down trying to restart the vehicle and apply the brakes when he sees Sheppard on the hood. The crown prescribes that there is no evidence that Sheppard was seriously injured at this time and there is not enough evidence to justify the allegations apart based on Bryant's briefing up to this point.
Death happens when Bryant goes and Sheppard holds the side of the vehicle. The car turned onto the opposite lane, Sheppard's body crashed into a fire hydrant that knocked him out of the car and his head hit the sidewalk. There are also reports of witnesses that Sheppard embraces Bryant's convertibility and grabs Bryant or steering. Bryant parked his car around the corner and called 9-1-1, 3 minutes later. Sheppard later died of his injuries at the hospital.
Aftermath
Sheppard's girlfriend reported to the media that before the incident, Sheppard had drunk so much that she did not want him to spin back from his apartment. Police had been summoned to his apartment that night to investigate the "unknown problem" and had time to question Sheppard. At the time of death, Sheppard's blood alcohol level was 0.183.
Bryant was released the next day by the police on his own admission without an inspection of liberation, emerging in a suit and tie to read a prepared statement to the media, where he stated that he was innocent of the indictment and expressed his condolences to the Sheppard family. A veteran defense lawyer stated that "others will be brought to justice and forced to stand in boxes, unshaven and wrinkled." Bryant's release provisions require him not to drive, surrender his passport and stay in Ontario. She is defended by Marie Henein. Bryant also resigned as CEO of Toronto Invest, saying that the arrest would act as a diversion for the company.
During this time, social media is used to debate both parties. Bryant hired the public relations company, Navigator Ltd., while the campaign appeared on blogs and social networks such as Twitter and YouTube with surveillance video clips accusing them of offering victims in a more favorable light. The Twitter account run by Navigator, @bryantfacts, was opposed by another Twitter account, @bryanttruths, created by the public relations professional Don Wiedman. On YouTube, anonymous users post videos from surveillance records broadcast by CTV News, CityTV News, and CBC News.
The Attorney General's Department appointed British Columbia Richard Peck as a prosecutor to avoid a conflict of interest, as Bryant had appointed a judge when he served as Attorney General. The date of his first trial was scheduled for October 19, 2009. The matter was postponed six times.
On May 25, 2010, prosecutor Richard Peck withdrew all charges against Bryant from the incident, stating that "there is no reasonable prospect of punishment". Peck said that "[Bryant] was attacked by a man who unfortunately was angry. [Bryant] is legally justified in his attempt to escape", and notes that Sheppard has been in action with six other riders in the same month before. his encounter with Bryant, and witnessed throwing a traffic cone in front of the car at the corner of Bloor and Yonge less than twenty minutes before the next Sheppard incident and death. The decision to withdraw the allegations was criticized by Marli Epp, a spokesperson for the Toronto Bicycle Race Association and Yvonne Bambrick, Executive Director of the Toronto Bicycle Rider.
In August 2012, Bryant published a book, <28 Seconds , his memoirs about Sheppard's death and about Bryant's battle with alcoholism.
Next life
In December 2009, Bryant returned to private legal practice and joined Norton Rose LLP (formerly Ogilvy Renault) as Senior Advisor and engaged with commercial and investment issues related to energy, natural resources and infrastructure/public-private partnerships. In 2012 he moved to Ishkonigan, a consulting and mediation firm owned by Phil Fontaine, where he accepted a position as principal.
In 2015 he began working for Ontario Legal Aid as a criminal defense adviser. In 2016, he worked in partnership with King Law Chambers as a criminal defense attorney for the poor and indigenous, and negotiated claims for the original land for First Nations. In 2018 he was appointed as executive director and general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
References
External links
- Official website
- Legislative Parliamentary History of Ontario
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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