Police officers face hearing in shooting death of businessman

Nalcor Energy CEO Stan Marshall takes questions from the media at the Link Energization Milestone at the Lower Churchill Soldiers Pond transmission site, 40 minutes outside of St. John’s on Wednesday.

The traditional start to the summer holidays is set to kick off with an Eastern Canada heat wave, as forecasters warned of sweltering temperatures that could inch into the 40s with the humidex this Canada Day weekend.

Environment Canada issued special weather statements Wednesday for the Maritimes and southern parts of Quebec and Ontario as a mass of hot and humid air heads north from the Gulf of Mexico.

“This will likely be the most significant heat event of the season thus far,” said meteorologist Jill Maetea, who is based in Fredericton, N.B.

“With all the planned outdoor activities of the long weekend, people should be aware of the predicted weather conditions and take the necessary precautions. If you’re going to outside — it’s going to be hot — so seek shade when possible to avoid overexposure.”

Southern Ontario was expected to feel the most heat, with the temperature forecasted to climb into the mid-40s with the humidex. Humidex values could exceed 40 C in southern Quebec.

Environment Canada said the airmass would settle over Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and P.E.I. over the weekend, bringing humidex values exceeding 36 C.

The national weather forecaster said it was not clear when there would be relief from the heat, and it would likely persist into next week.

The heat wave was a definitive sign of the arrival of summer in the Maritimes, just weeks after frost caused widespread damage to crops throughout the region.

Two Bathurst, N.B., police officers who were cleared of criminal charges in the 2015 shooting death of a businessman will face a hearing for alleged code of conduct breaches.

A judge threw out manslaughter and other charges last year against constables Patrick Bulger and Mathieu Boudreau in the death of Michel Vienneau, a Tracadie, N.B., store owner.

But Bathurst police Chief Ernie Boudreau said Wednesday a Police Act investigator has completed a probe, and there is “sufficient evidence that code of conduct breaches may have been committed by the officers.”

The 51-year-old Vienneau was shot in his vehicle outside the Bathurst train station on Jan. 12, 2015. The city has said the officers were investigating whether Vienneau and common-law partner Annick Basque were in possession of illegal drugs after returning from a trip to Montreal.

In a statement of defence filed in a lawsuit filed by Basque, the city says the officers clearly identified themselves to Vienneau and had tried to stop his vehicle before it accelerated, pinning an officer against a snowbank. It says one officer fired at the car as it moved toward his colleague.

The Mounties have said an investigation revealed that Vienneau was not involved in criminal activity.

The officers had been charged with manslaughter with a weapon, assault with a weapon and unlawfully pointing a firearm, but Judge Anne DugasHorsman ruled in February 2017 after a preliminary hearing that the prosecution failed to produce enough evidence to warrant a trial.

In a release Wednesday, the Bathurst force said a settlement conference was held June 20 to allow the officers to respond to the allegations. But “agreement regarding disciplinary and corrective measures could not be reached” and the matter will go to a hearing before arbitrator Joel Michaud.

Basque’s lawsuit alleges Vienneau’s death was due to police negligence.

None of the lawsuit’s allegations or statement of defence have been proven in court.

Vienneau’s mother, Sylvie Vienneau, has questioned why police didn’t arrest her son after he got off the train, rather than wait until he got in his car.

And she asked who had told them he would be carrying drugs.