Travis Vader is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the July 2010 deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann. (CBC)

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A Court of Queen's Bench judge is expected to announce his decision Tuesday afternoon on whether or not to allow a camera into his courtroom for the long-awaited verdict in the Travis Vader murder trial.

Vader is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the July 2010 deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann. After a six-month trial, Justice Denny Thomas is scheduled to hand down his verdict in the case on Thursday morning.

The debate about cameras in the courtroom has been raging for decades in Canada. It continued this week on a phone-in segment of the CBC's province-wide show Alberta at Noon.

Edmonton Journal columnist Paula Simons spoke in favour of allowing a camera into the courtroom to live-stream the Vader verdict. Postmedia is part of the media consortium that made an application to the court, which also includes the CBC, Global, CTV and The Canadian Press.

"Whatever the judge decides," Simons said, "I think people have a reasonable right to say it is the 21st century. We have technology that is not particularly intrusive, that is pretty commonplace. Why shouldn't people hear the unfiltered summary from the bench?"

Toronto criminal defence lawyer John Rosen told the Alberta audience he decided cameras have no place in the courtroom after watching the O.J. Simpson trial, which he described as "appalling." 

"If you're going to allow cameras in the courtroom on this case," he said, "you're going to allow them on every single case afterwards, because it creates a precedent.  So that's the first problem you have.

"This isn't a creation of evidence," Rosen said.  "This is just public gossip. Live-streaming of the moment. That's the problem."

What do you think?

Should cameras be allowed in the courtroom for the #Vader verdict? Judge to rule later today https://t.co/JTXGfjxBIL

— @CBCEdmonton

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