EDMONTON - Edmonton East MP Peter Goldring is scheduled to face trial Thursday on a charge of refusing a breathalyzer when he was pulled over by an Edmonton police officer in December 2011.
Goldring, a Member of Parliament since 1997, has already pleaded not guilty.
Goldring has stated he had only one beer the night he was pulled over, on Dec. 4, 2011.
“Although I was not impaired by alcohol, the police officer demanded I provide a roadside breath sample at the time because I admitted to having recently consumed a very small amount of alcohol,” Goldring told reporters a month after the charge was laid.
The case was in court late last year as Goldring’s lawyer sought additional disclosure from the Edmonton Police Service. Then, Const. Trevor Shelrud testified he stopped Goldring only because the MP was pulling out of a bar parking lot shortly after midnight.
Shelrud said Goldring mentioned he was an MP when he handed over his driver’s licence.
Shelrud noted that Goldring’s car had a “strong smell” of alcohol and referred to the MP as “belligerent” during a radio call to his supervisor.
Another officer testified that Goldring locked himself in his truck and was uncooperative.
The testimony at the disclosure hearing went largely unchallenged and does not represent the entire case. At the end of the hearing, a judge denied Goldring a larger record of police radio calls made the night he was arrested.
Goldring has suggested his defence will include the assertion that police unfairly targeted him and his vehicle to be pulled over during a Checkstop crackdown.
If convicted, Goldring faces a minimum $1,000 fine, up to five years in jail and a driving prohibition.
In 2009, Goldring opposed a proposal to allow police to screen all drivers with breathalyzer tests, whether or not officers suspected they had been drinking.
“It is safe to say everyone is opposed to drunk driving, but there are civil liberty issues involved,” Goldring wrote on his website at the time. “There is the presumption of innocence and the right to not self-incriminate.”
The trial is scheduled for two days.
Goldring was elected as a Conservative but has sat as an independent since shortly after he was charged.
The Edmonton Journal