Those quoted regulations do not say a CO can order you to parade, it says the CDS can, two very different things. Unless there is further direction not quoted here where the CDS has delegated those powers lower, then the CO cannot order you to parade for two weeks.
Sorry but you are wrong. The regulation provides that "subject to any limitations prescribed by the [CDS] . . .". The order can be given by any superior amongst whom a CO would be the most likely. The CDS is simply made the authority for prescribing any limitations to the QR&O which, incidentally, is a regulation made by the Governor in Council.
What exactly is the definition of "lawful excuse". It seems quite vague, so I'm assuming many things could you get out of it i.e (previously paid travel expenses, family issues, day job issues).
Roughly how long would it even take with all of the prep work and the trial itself? Since the member is class A, I'd assume that they'd be getting paid the whole time so it would many days missed for a CPL to even loose money.. Heck they might even come out ahead..
A "lawful excuse" is one that provides a legal justification for not attending. It would not be something that is merely a personal inconvenience such as the ones that you mention.
The length of time would vary from province to province depending on how busy the court schedules are but I would say several months.
Your assumption about being paid is wrong. Since this is a civilian charge in front of a civilian court, you would not be on duty to attend the trial or any of the court proceedings nor would you get a lawyer from Defence Counsel Services as this is not a "service offence" which is defined as:
service offence means an offence under this Act, the Criminal Code or any other Act of Parliament, committed by a person while subject to the Code of Service Discipline
Technically (and legally). S 294 is specifically provided as an offence triable by a civilian court because at the moment that you fail to attend training you are not subject to the Code of Service Discipline by virtue of S 60(1)(c) of the NDA.
The saving grace for people is that the military makes virtually no use of this provision because it's basically a pain in the butt to do. As a JAG officer I was frequently consulted about this problem and while I always encouraged COs to make use of the provision (if nothing else as a learning exercise and
pour encourager les autres), no one ever took me up on it.
