PREAMBLE

Jeffrey Warren Reynolds [JR] was providing Paul Maines with copious amounts of text and FB messages for more than a year and a half, as well as screen captures of messages that he [JR] had received from key people within the PEI government [i.e. Hon. Bloyce Thompson; Premier King].

Dozens of those materially-relevant messages are contained  in Paul Maines’ most recent Motion Record filed in the PEI Supreme Court as Appendices. I’ve read them. They tell a convincing story.

I can not for a second imagine that they were created fraudulently, for many reasons, confirmations and connections I’ll not get into here. Proving what a person may be convinced is eventually going to be proven is not yet possible, however.  Why is the Motion happening?

That filing – over 1000 pages – is a Motion asking the PEI Supreme Court for an Order to either (1) enforce the Settlement Agreement signed with Whistle-blower JR, or conversely, (2) have that legal agreement set aside.

That the Motion was necessary already raises a great many questions about what JR is now doing, why he is saying what he is saying now, that’s different from what he said and wrote previously, etc., when he was eagerly and happily disclosing and working toward being the whistle-blower to bring accountability to the PC PEI government one minute…..now denying that he has documents, and now acting in apparent disbelief at what Maines is alleging in his lawsuit, all of which is based on what was provided to Maines by JR!

Great story, but if you took it to Hollywood they’d laugh you out the door for it’s sheer unbelievability. What happened?

Did someone get to JR? Buy him off? Give him and/or his wife a deal too good to be true? Perhaps threaten him, or members of his family?

When you read the record…when you see the passion in what JR repeatedly insists is his goal, his oft-stated intention to provide Maines with information and documents that would both assist him in his quest for justice in the courts, and expose secrecy in the PC government, specifically with the “Gamesys Proposal,” it’s hard not to go to such extremes in one’s mind hunting for some explanation for such a complete and abrupt turn-about on such an immensely important matter.

There now appears to be a blanket denial by JR –  as the saying goes, “…there’s nothing to see here.”

This article doesn’t have a lot of answers. It will hopefully provide the background necessary to create a framework so you’ll be able to better understand what are the most important questions that will eventually need to be answered (and soon) within the court process. To do that, let’s take a look at how that about-face transpired, in four sections:

1. JR reaches out to Maines (and doesn’t let go for over a year and a half);

2. Going (completely) OFF the Rails

3. Who is Christopher Ian Robinson?

4. JR’s Flip-Flop-Flip on Dennis King

5. Summary

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1.  JR REACHES OUT TO MAINES

(AND DOESN’T LET GO FOR OVER A YEAR AND A HALF)

In the many messages from JR that were sent to Maines (filed as part of the Motion Record on this last legal action dealing with the Settlement Agreement with JR), JR repeatedly states his intention to provide assistance to Maines to expose corruption in the PEI government.

He plans to do that by providing Maines with both documentation and information he claims to have access to as a result of his close relationship to various individuals both within and outside government, i.e, including Premier King (inside government) and former Liberal Attorney General, Jordan Brown (outside government).

JR messages Maines about things that are not known publicly, things that are being kept secret, on a range of issues, but especially:

(1) the gaming issue, especially with respect to the “Gamesys” online gambling proposal; and,

(2) the document secrecy issue, especially with respect to efforts by Premier King to ensure that neither Paul Maines nor I would be able to access any records on the Gamesys proposal, as a result of those involved having been instructed by Premier King to use non-government emails.

The following paragraphs from Maines’ Affidavit gives a good indication of how the early communications between JR and Maines focussed on JR’s being “pissed” at the egaming cover-up by the PC government. JR wants to do something about, and reaches out to Maines, claiming he wants to make the government more transparent and accountable.

That is apparently something he did when he assisted the Alberta government to bring in an “Accountability Act,” which JR referred to as  his “crowning moment”.

Time and again, JR expresses his great disappointment with the secrecy that he claims to witness within the PC government. Time and again, he pledges to help Maines undo that secrecy. He offers himself voluntarily as a whistle-blower.

Now he is claiming all those messages attached to Maines’ Affidavit never happened? Strange beyond comprehension to me!

JR talks repeatedly about his intention to restore transparency, [at least on the secret “Gamesys Proposal” scheme that he claims to have been involved with (for a mere 3 weeks, mind you) before accepting a job at the Atlantic Lotteries Corporation (ALC) ].

JR offers proof of that commitment and promise of assistance to Maines by continuing to provide him with more and more information and documentation, as well giving Maines information about the subsequent steps he was planning to take (then would take) to bring that plan to fruition.

As I mentioned in a previous episode in this series, I was apparently part of the culmination of JR’s big plan somehow. Although he sent me a number of FB messages suggesting that he had something big he wanted to bring me in on, he never ended up following up on that, I presumed because the lawsuit started.

During that three week time period that JR was apparently involved with the gaming portal project, he informed Maines that he had received nearly 900 documents related to that secret Gamesys Proposal, and was set to provide that documentation to Maines, and/or the private investigator retained by Maines’ counsel.

JR did apparently meet with Derrick Snowdy.  Snowdy has since sworn two Affidavits attached to this particular lawsuit against King et al., (1) one for the initial Motion seeking an Order for the preservation of emails of the Defendants; and (2) one for this more recent Motion seeking a resolution of what Maines’ legal counsel is alleging is a breach of a legally-binding Settlement Agreement.

For reasons that remain a mystery to me – JR changed his legal counsel from his family lawyer to Christopher Ian Robinson, then dropped him and told the court he was representing himself, then said he is getting a new lawyer, on which I believe the Judge and other lawyers on the file are still waiting to hear back from JR.

There’s no need to pound this story to death with pages of detail because there’s no answers to be found…just evidence and information and allegations that raise a LOT of suspicious, which in turn give birth to speculation and questions.

Something’s definitely going on with the  flip-flop-flip evident in the chronological record regarding JR’s publicly-displayed relationship [and apparent opinion] of Dennis King that currently makes NO SENSE to me, at all.

Before looking at the evidence of that, the real story behind whatever is going on with JR personally, is:

How his decisions have impacted Maines’ lawsuit, and how this massive Motion Record was necessary to counter the unbelievable – “nothing to see here”. 

Despite the mystery surrounding it all…somehow, I’m certain of it, Robinson and other yet-to-be-identified players are behind the sudden turn-coat claim of knowing nothing, and having nothing to give to Maines.

I can only assume that assumptions were made that once things were deleted they were gone….HELLO!!!….Maines seems to have figured out how to use the screen capture feature on his computer, which is going to make the legal case an interesting one for sure, on a go-forward basis.

2.   GOING [completely] OFF THE RAILS

(A TIMELINE)

At the very outset of  the 1000+ page Motion Record  asking for a Court Order compelling JR to either: (1) turn over the documents, as per the terms of the settlement agreement he signed, or conversely, (2) to set the Settlement Agreement aside the purpose of the extensive record is presented to the Judge, the purpose of the Motion and why it is necessary is explained.

Everything seemed to be on track with the plan for JR to be a “whistle-blower” for Maines. Maines had listed JR as a Defendant when he filed the Notice of Action, the plan being to then sign a settlement agreement, remove JR as a Defendant, and in the process, even protect him legally paying those legal fees if such was necessary, given that the Whistle-blower legislation in PEI has never been proclaimed law by the PC government and they may still be vulnerable to retaliation.

Maines’ lawyer couldn’t get a response from JR. Nor had he heard from any lawyer representing JR.  He finally sent an email to inform JR that a Statement of Claim would be naming him as a Defendant after all, unless things were to proceed as per the terms of the whistle-blower Settlement Agreement.

I can’t do better than the filing itself by way of clarifying the context and background. So, much of the remainder of this article is taken directly from that Motion Record, namely, Maines’ Affidavit:

Then, over the following weeks, a quite bizarre series of events happened, best told in small chronological chunks with detail taken straight from the Motion Record:

November 11, 2021:

As required by law,  Maines’ legal counsel sent a letter by email  to Jonathan Coady, counsel for the Defendant, Dennis King, and by mail, to the then unrepresented defendants, Allan Campbell and Chris LeClair, advising of the settlement of the action with JR. That was sent the day after the Settlement Agreement was signed.

November 24, 2021: 

Robinson confirmed by email that he was “on track” to receive documents from his client by December 10, 2021, in accordance with the Settlement Agreement terms.

December 9, 2021:

The day before the expected receipt of documents, Maines’ counsel received an email from Robinson advising him that Reynolds would not be able to provide records by December 10, 2021. He and JR unilaterally took the position that the Settlement necessarily implied “30 business days,” which was inconsistent with Reynolds / Robinson’s earlier stated acceptance of the December 10, 2021 date for production of records.

DECEMBER 10, 2021:Phillips, Maines’ counsel, was then notified that JR would not be able to meet the December 10, 2021 deadline. Maines agreed to extend the time of the agreement, but asked for two things (“confirmations” of good faith) to proceed:

December 13, 2021

From: Chris Robinson
Sent: December 13, 2021 12:49 PM
To: Otto Phillips
Subject: RE: Maines, et al. v. King, et al.

Yes, I have copies of the items in #1; and no, my client is travelling and will not be available before Jan. 4th, and in any event, per our agreement, he has 30 (business) days to liaise with your IT person once you have requested same.

 Regards,

 Chris

From: Otto Phillips <otto@waddellphillips.ca>
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2021 12:21 PM
To: Chris Robinson <chris@cirobinsonlaw.ca>
Cc: John Phillips <john@waddellphillips.ca>; Val Teichroeb <val@waddellphillips.ca>
Subject: Re: Maines, et al. v. King, et al.

Good afternoon Chris –

I spoke with my client, and I think we are able to work with you on this. We’re fine with the 15th of December for production of documents. If you need more time, that’s also fine, so long as we’ve got your client’s records by our Christmas break on the 23rd (subject to what’s below). As your client is aware, we are conducting examinations of Dennis King on January 5, 2022 and will need to get documents obtained and reviewed in advance of this.

What we do need immediately, however, are two things:

(1) Confirmation that your client will be providing us, amongst other records, with copies of: (1) the email he received from Alan Campbell on May 20, 2021 at 10:25 pm; (2) the email he received from Dennis King on May 22, 2021 at 7:15 am; and (3) the email he received from Chris LeClair on May 22, 2021at 10:57 am. 

(2) Confirmation that your client would allow us to have an IT expert quickly attend at his home (or meet him somewhere) to obtain metadata about the relevant emails from his laptop or personal computer sometime before January 1, 2022.

I think if we have these confirmations from you today, we won’t have any problems moving forward.

Happy to discuss if there’s anything else we need to go over. 

 Thanks Chris.

 Otto

December 14, 2021:  There were several communications back and forth between Robinson and Maines’ counsel  in the days that followed,  and the inclusion of a “third party” [Eddie Francis] to the story, which is worth it’s own separate short article I’ll publish at some point.

Why? Because after Francis got wind of what JR had said via his lawyer (Robinson) concerning him, then Francis wrote a letter to Reynolds demanding a retraction of what JR alleged, Francis telling JR in the letter that they both knew they were false statements, and that he intended to file his own Affidavit, which he did (it is part of the Motion Record of 1000+ pages).

JR neither retracted his false statements (in fact his layer Robinson double-downed on the claim in response to being told the statements were false, and would be proven so if need be).

Given that situation, as spelled out by Maines in paragraph 21 after an excellent summary overview of the background and context necessary to understand the reasons for the Motion:“…but not a word about online gaming and multiple email accounts or cell phone numbers – nothing, period.” – Robinson

That’s quite a departure from what Robinson said to Maines’ lawyer on December 12, 2021 when he was in support of those two conditions to justify extending the time for full production, “…Yes, I have copies of the items in #1,” were his exact words.

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3.  WHO IS CHRISTOPHER IAN ROBINSON?

HOW JR came to enlist Christopher Ian Robinson as his lawyer on this matter remains a mystery to me, but after getting to know Mr. Robison from what Judges said about him recently in disciplinary rulings, I think the real question we need to be asking is not HOW, but WHY?  Robinson is in the process of getting disbarred.

I can’t go any further with the telling of this unfinished story. Other than to note that if I was to investigate further, I’d start by digging into the connection between Senator James Cowan and Robinson for starters.

Senator James Cowan, Q.C.

Cowan was a senior Stewart-McKelvey lawyer in Halifax until 2020, and life-long, CLOSE FRIEND TO CHRISTOPHER IAN ROBINSON, for 30 years. This information is in the Motion Record as well, as part of the Judge’s decision.

Cowan gave testimony in support of Robinson’s “good character” in the Barrister’s case against him (which was apparently given approximately the weigh of a hummingbird’s feather in a vacuum by the judge, being unceremoniously tossed in the garbage as rubbish, in light of the facts concerning his egregious behaviour).

Here’s a bit of the Judge’s ruling that references Cowan’s Letter of Reference for Robinson: 

So the question remains….why Robinson?

Did JR know him previously? If not, was he recommended by someone? Possibly Jordan Brown, who seemed especially concerned for JR’s legal well-being after discovering that JR was named as a defendant in the case?

JR was sharing his communications with Jordan Brown with Maines around that time, and after the filing was made and became public knowledge, Brown got wind and sent the following message to JR, suggesting that Dennis [King] and others might protect him:

JR identified this as an attempt by Brown to “make me a deal,” so he was aware early on as things began to heat up that he was suddenly a very hot commodity!

Nonetheless, at this juncture, it appeared that JR was still a “confidante” with Maines, and stringing Brown along for more information, which he then continued to share with Maines.

Despite whatever Jordan Brown and others might have thought about JR’s loyalty to keeping secrets, he was funnelling it all to Maines, and had clearly “flopped” from his initial flip onto the PEI PC Political stage during the PC Leadership Campaign. Let’s examine that unique flip-flop-flip phenomena rarely seen outside a small cohort of individuals in society suffering multiple-personality disorder as it goes to the next level – an apparent flip back to Dennis loyalty.

4.  JR’S FLIP-FLOP-FLIP ON DENNIS KING

[a]  The Initial Flip…

During the PC Leadership Campaign in late 2018, early 2019 a letter that appeared in the Guardian from Jeffrey Warren Reynolds endorsing Denny King [someone who I had not heard of before]. JR flipped himself onto the world stage with an endorsement of King that immediately made the reader wonder: “Who is this unknown dignitary?”  Me too. 

I know from personal experience [twice having heard my middle name being used by my mother whilst beckoning me with a much louder than usual voice] that when your middle name is used, you’re [1] either someone really important, like a Senator or Judge,. i.e., “Oliver Wendell Holmes,” or [2] you’re in big trouble!

At the time, I assumed – not knowing him – that the prominent headline highlighting the name meant that JR was indeed some unknown PC Canadian dignitary, or possibly, a professional PR person Denny’s Campaign Manager, Stewart McKelvey Partner, Margaret Ann Walsh had brought onboard to push Denny as the only serious contender in the PC Leadership race. Now? I think JR’s in big trouble.

At any rate, that was JR’s initial FLIP onto the PEI PC political stage. Dennis got elected Premier – then came the JR FLOP.

[b] THE FLOP

The messages to Maines beginning back in 2020 and extending for more than a year and a half were consistently saying some less-than-savory things about Dennis King, now become Premier King from his cheerleading endorsement days, many of which were  included in previous articles, some cited above.

There’s a lot of them They were apparently all part of a long-game that was to culminate in a great exposé involving me:

[c] And then…the Flip back…

Despite the glaring contradictions in both Reynold’s and Robinson’s communications on this matter of the Settlement Agreement with Maines, there was no movement on the part of Reynold’s to comply with the Settlement Agreement he had just signed!   Despite a revelation that is truly astounding in the court filing on this Motion by Maines, nothing has yet happened.  Robinson is no longer counsel for JR, and he has apparently yet to indicate to the Court and other Parties who his legal counsel will be.

Things now seem to be hung-up as a result of that issue; however, I suspect the Judge will need to get things moving soon, after all, it’s been about 7 months since the initial PRESERVATION MOTION WAS FILED. so with something as time-sensitive as the retention and retrieval of private email electronic data and meta-data, there would, or should, be some weight given to that, rather than to let someone who seems to be absolutely all over the page with his story (ies) the freedom to deal with it when he gets around to it.

In the meantime, JR and other members of the alleged Gamesys secret online gambling platform group seem to be buddies again. When Denny posted about his son testing positive, and having to quarantine, there were best wishes from JR:

Julius Patkai is one of the people JR identified as part of the secret Gamesys group. Patkai was apparently at the Rustico cottage meeting referenced in Alan Campbell’s email (see previous episodes).

So JR’s wife, Kari Reynold recently got a big position a few weeks ago, and one of that Gamesys (alleged) group, Julius Patkai, congratulates her?
This appears on the surface – JR sharing Dennis posts and looking PC friendly again [Progressive Conservative, not “Personal Computer”] – to be an brash attempt to make things appear as if things are all good between JR and the King Government, even with other players in the Gamesys Proposal narrative.

What’s going on? Is this a contrived attempt to normalize a situation that is actually so far out of control that’s the only remaining strategy?

SUMMARY

Sorry. Nothing but questions to conclude with!

Why would JR hire Christopher Ian Robinson, when a miniscule amount of “due diligence” would have discovered (in headlines two months earlier) that he was on the road to severe disciplinary action, possibly disbarment?

And the real puzzler:

“Why did JR say  he was going to expose the corruption and secrecy on the Gamesys proposal, claim he had hundreds of documents, then deny having any?”

An interesting twist is what JR claimed – through Robinson – regarding the source of documents, which I alluded to earlier when I said a “third party” had been dragged into things, Eddie Francis. That’s a relatively short story, but another real head-scratcher if you’re trying to figure out what’s going on in JR’s gamebook on this file.

I’ve written 7 episodes now on this historically-unique Motion chalked full of incredibly-important information and tons of stories.

To my knowledge, not a single member of the Opposition (they could SHRED this government with what’s in this Motion Record if they wanted to) or media have so much as mentioned to PEI Islanders that it was filed.

Hey subscribers…ever feel like you’re not getting the value you have a right to expect from your annual subscription to Island Newspapers, or from your tax dollars going into the CBC?