Former Deputy Premier of Quebec Nathalie Normandeau has invoked the Jordan ruling to quash her trial.
Her lawyer argued in a motion for a stay of proceedings, filed Friday at the Court of Quebec, that the rights of the former Liberal minister were "violated."
Under the Jordan decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, the maximum time for a trial—from the laying of charges to its conclusion—is 18 months for provincial court cases and 30 months for cases before the superior courts or that require preliminary inquiries.
If the trial exceeds this time limit, the Crown is obliged to prove that the delay is under "exceptional circumstances" that are "reasonably unexpected or reasonably unavoidable, and can not be reasonably remedied," the country's highest court ruled.
Nathalie Normandeau was arrested in March 2016; it has now been 21 months since the charges were laid and her trial is to begin on April 9.
the former cabinet minister a deputy premier to Jean Charest faces accusations of conspiracy, corruption, fraud and breach of trust with five co-defendants: her former chief of staff Bruno Lortie, Marc-Yvan Côté, Mario W Martel, France Michaud de Roche and François Roussy, the former mayor of Gaspé.
The trial is expected to last at least four months, according to the Crown, which had a list of 139 potential witnesses last September.