ANTI-DRUG SPEAKER ON TRIAL FOR FRAUD

A motivational speaker who once travelled to schools to preach to
students about the dangers of drugs often took narcotics before
making his presentations.

That was the testimony of Andrew McRae, a 24-year-old Niagara Falls
man who was offered the job as assistant to Fort Erie resident Paul
Christie during his Rotary-sponsored "Be Real" tour across Ontario in
2005.

Christie is on trial in Fort Erie facing six counts of fraud over
$5,000, dating back to 2002. He pleaded not guilty to each of those
charges, as well as a charge of uttering a threat and possession of a
dangerous weapon, at the Ontario Court of Justice Tuesday.

During the opening day of testimony, McRae - a recovering addict -
said Christie sent him to obtain prescription medications such as
Oxycodone and Percocet to help him "come down" after his high-energy
presentations to schools. He also used the drugs to prepare himself
for the presentations, McRae told court.

"What did you think of that?" Crown attorney Graeme Leach asked
McRae.

"I thought it was wrong," McRae said. "I thought it was a complete
contradiction of what he was supposed to be about - his whole
presentation and his business."

McRae is one of 14 witnesses scheduled to testify in the five-day
trial. Also on the witness stand was McRae's mother, Joanne, who
co-signed a $10,000 loan for her son to invest in Christie's plan to
visit 262 schools in 35 weeks through his "Glory Clouds"
organization.

Joanne McRae testified she contacted Christie after seeing an article
about his plans to partner with the Lewiston/Niagara-on-the-Lake
Rotary Club to take his anti-drug message on the road.

"I thought it was a good idea (for Christie and her son to meet),"
McRae testified. "He seemed on the up and up and I thought it would
keep Andy on the straight and narrow."

After a short e-mail exchange and a one-time meeting, Christie
offered Andrew McRae the chance to work with him, travelling to
schools to share his own stories of addiction and drumming up
corporate sponsors to help fund the website and tour.

McRae testified her son quit his job at a Niagara Falls restaurant to
work with Christie on the understanding he would receive a salary and
a share of any profits.

After he received the $10,000, Joanne McRae testified, Christie asked
for an additional $7,000 "so he could pay off some debts and have a
stress-free summer."

McRae said the idea was for Andrew to stay with Christie over the
summer, working on plans for the "Be Real" tour and his own sobriety.

"I thought it was a good idea," McRae said.

But shortly after Christie received the money, she said, the
relationship soured.

Andrew's calls were not returned and the Dec. 1 deadline for
repayment of the $7,000 loan - which McRae and her husband pulled
from their personal line of credit - came and went.

"He knew that when you have a child with an addiction, that you will
do anything to help them stay clean," she said. "He preyed on our
emotions."

In the meantime, she said, Andrew had lapsed further into addiction,
taking the Oxycodone pills Christie sent him out to get from street
dealers.

McRae said although he did accompany Christie to schools, he was only
once ever paid $75 - one-quarter of $300 McRae arranged for an online
ad on Christie's gloryclouds.com website, which is still active.

Defence lawyer Charlie Ryall questioned Joanne McRae about the timing
of the demise of the "friendly relationship" between her family and
Christie, and challenged her about a contract signed between
Christie, Andrew, herself and her husband that stipulated Andrew
would receive a $365 salary and five per cent of any profits after
the school tour season ended in 2006, 2007 and 2008, provided he
passed random drug tests.

"The contract says $365," Ryall said. "Is that weekly? Monthly?
Annually? You have some business acumen. You had problems with
spelling and grammar and had the contract revised three times. What
about picking up this?"

Ryall said McRae didn't continue as Christie's assistant because he
had lapsed back into drug addiction.

"The fact is, there was a lot of potential here but it never really
got off the ground because of his own addictions," Ryall said of
Andrew McRae. "As you know with addictions, the first thing to go is
a job."

The trial is to continue today.