Bob Mackin
You never know who you’re going to see in Victoria.
Fort St. John court clerk Frederick Garrow got a business trip to the capital because of a staff shortage at the Victoria Provincial Court.
The Victoria Times Colonist reported March 18 that three clerks were seconded from elsewhere in the province to cover for sick or retired staff.
That’s not the only staffing shortage in the capital city’s courthouse. Last month, two accused drug dealers walked free when judges wouldn’t tolerate further delays. In 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada, in the Jordan case, set 18 months as the maximum for charge-to-trial in Provincial Court cases.
Fun-loving Garrow’s Facebook and Instagram’s posts indicate he is having a grand time, staying at hotels like the Chateau Victoria and the Marriott Inner Harbour and enjoying refreshments at the Sticky Wicket.
The friend of Education Minister Mike Bernier also captured images of what may have been Speaker Linda Reid’s last exit from the Legislature on March 16 and even got to rub elbows with Attorney General Suzanne Anton and Premier Christy Clark.
You can find those images (and more) on Garrow’s safe-for-work Instagram account, under the not-safe-for-work handle (ahem), FreddyFingerbanger.
Meanwhile, Mitch Bellamy, a badminton-playing entrepreneur/executive 
coach, showed what it’s like inside a Helijet flight taking-off from Victoria en route to Vancouver.
The passenger to his right on the flight? None other than Clark. See the video from March 16 on his Instagram page.
The smiling passenger to his left appears to be one of Clark’s RCMP bodyguards. The occupant of the opposite window seat is Clark’s press secretary Stephen Smart, who did not respond for comment.
Clark is a frequent Helijet flier. She prefers to commute between Victoria and Vancouver, where she lives in a $3.7 million Dunbar house registered to Vancouver Whitecaps’ owner Greg Kerfoot’s close associate Nevin Sangha.
