although chen agreed to co-operate with the authorities, he refused to return to hong kong to give evidence in the trial. a team of four lawyers and a magistrate were thus flown out to vancouver, british columbia, canada for a hearing beginning on 23 february 2009 at taxpayers' expense. legislator ronny tong questioned the "extravagancy" of this hearing, and suggested there may be an easier and cheaper way to collect chen's evidence.