The release of the Speaker’s bombshell report yesterday has sent a shockwave across British Columbia. It identified a culture of entitlement and alleged a systemic pattern of fiscal wrongdoing in the BC Legislature. The report’s release will undoubtedly undermine public trust and frankly raises more questions than it has answered.
In releasing the report, the Legislative Assembly Management Committee unanimously approved four motions:
The serious nature of these motions cannot be underestimated.
First, the committee will be inviting an auditor general from another province to undertake a comprehensive audit of Legislative finances. This unusual step bypasses British Columbia’s Office of the Auditor General.
Second, a framework will be set up for a workplace review. Presumably such a review is designed to ensure hiring policies and practices are put in place to protect workers from fear of retribution and unjust terminations (as raised repeatedly in the report).
Third, upon receiving a response from the Clerk and Sergeant at Arms, the committee will recommend to the Legislative Assembly a course of action. Presumably, this means they will recommend to the Assembly whether the Clerk and Sergeant at Arms should be reinstated, terminated, or continue on leave with or without pay. In light of the serious nature of the allegations in the report, it’s difficult for me to imagine any scenario that leads to the Clerk and Sergeant at Arms being reinstated.
But the story does not end here.
I’ve read the report through several times and I am at a lost as to who I can now trust in the BC Legislature. On page 14 of the report, the Deputy Sergeant at Arms is quoted as saying “I’m going to lose my job over this one”, referring to an alleged “theft” of more than $10,000 in liquor that he was aware of. The Deputy Sergeant at Arms, who is now serving as the Acting Sergeant at Arms, is also quoted on page 14 in alleging misappropriation of legislature funds by the Clerk to purchase a wood splitter. Furthermore, on page 16, questions arise as to whether or not there was a cover-up concerning alleged improper expense claims by a BC Liberal MLA.
I’m left wondering what, if any, financial oversight was present with respect to the approval of the outrageous expense claims detailed in the report.
Perhaps most disturbing of all are the questions that arise concerning the Clerk’s relationship to the BC Liberals.
On page 9, the Sergeant At Arms is quoted as suggesting that the Clerk was “not impartial and that he was in fact very close with the BC Liberal Party”. Pages 15-17 of the report detail an alleged coverup of inappropriate expenses submitted by a BC Liberal MLA. The Clerk is quoted as saying that “I spoke with Kate and told her to rein Gary in and put a stop to this, otherwise we will all wear it”. Later, the Deputy Clerk and Clerk of Committees is said to have told the speaker that the Clerk had gone to Vancouver to meet with Geoff Plant about how to “rein in Gary and ensure he wouldn’t be conducting investigations in the future”. And then there are the meetings detailed in the tables spanning pages 36 to 38.
This table details 39 entries of in-province trips taken by the Clerk since March 2017 for individual meetings. Four of these meetings involved former BC Liberal Speaker Bill Barisoff; four were with former Premier Christy Clark (all of which occurred after she was no longer Premier); fourteen were with former BC Liberal MLA Geoff Plant; two were with Liberal MLA Mike de Jong; one was for a meeting at the Liberal party offices. The obvious questions that arise are: 1) what were these meetings about?; 2) how were they justified as being associated with legislative business.
Another very concerning allegation appears on page 19 of the report. Here, the Clerk is quoted as saying: ‘that he had “so much dirt on the Liberals” and that he could threaten to “stop paying their legal bills” or “quit paying their severance payments”’. Answers are clearly needed to more obvious questions that arise: 1) what dirt?; 2) what legal bills?; 3) what severance payments.
And then there is what the speaker described on page 48 as “the most comprehensive analysis of the Retirement Allowance to date” which he suggested “appears to have been conducted in January 2014 by the Legislative Assembly’s then-Director of Human Resources, Jo-Anne Kern, following the publication of the John Doyle audit report and at the request of then-Speaker Linda Reid.” What’s disturbing is that this report appears to have either been removed, destroyed or not filed appropriately.
At 10:00am today I held a press conference in which I provided our response to the Speaker’s report. Below I reproduce the statement that I used in the press briefing. The entire press conference was filmed on Facebook Live.
7 Comments
..clearly the committee cannot be composed of MLAs..they collectively are not competent enough or impartial enough..time for random contractor audits..and suspect expenses recouped/repaid by corrupt civil servants..plus a massive reduction in the $80 million budget..obviously its too much..any transportation expenses need to be assessed as superfluous in light of available public transit options..and carshare apps..set the example..you are all over entitled children spending your taxpayer allowance
All receipts and expense forms should be posted online, not just for MLAs but for. every government employee. Perhaps then the sense of entitlement and corruption will cease.
I was expecting misused funds as that seems to be rampant and a regular occurrence in all levels of government (not that we are OK with that) however the amount of money that Mr. James has allegedly taken from taxpayers is utterly shocking and sickening.
The trouble I see in moving forward is that Mr. James had full control of making up policies which he took full advantage of to benefit himself financially and those in close proximity to him who all have benefited from his fraudulent behavior so on paper, maybe it’s all legit and no wrong doing will be found?! If this is found to be the case, it will be beyond angering for the public and all these policies he created should be voided immediately. Ethically, and responsibly to the public purse; this is criminal.
What on earth is retirement allowance?! And receiving $200K+ EACH allowance when you aren’t retired or retiring?! He’s pocketed over a million dollars in suspicious funds. Lets not forget that Christy Clark took a private jet to and from Vancouver/Victoria on a regular basis. A 20 min plane ride costed taxpayers over $500 every time she went to Victoria. The fiscal irresponsibility from the BC Liberals was outstanding. Does it say somewhere when you get hired into government that once you’re in, you are considered the Queen of England? Because they all seem to think they have that kind of entitlement.
Another angering point is the BC Liberals got rid of roll over vacation days and vacation payouts to healthcare staff-people who are overworked, underpaid and workplace understaffed. Yet the BC Legislature continues with this policy for their staff?! So its Ok for you but not for anyone else? Its total mistreatment of regular people who work really hard to make ends meet while giving everything wonderful to high ranking government staff who are barely in the legislature. Its sick. The office of the government is supposed to work for the people and the way I see it, they are all there making life easier for themselves.
What angers me the absolute most about all of this is that 50% of British Columbians are struggling financially, 67% have little to no retirement savings and the majority are also living in crippling debt. People can’t put a roof over their heads. We have an affordability crisis in this Province and 50% of people in this Province say that a $200 emergency would put them into financial stress. Meanwhile, clueless to the lives of millions they are supposed to serve, legislative staff are using taxpayer money to take luxurious and unnecessary trips around the world, purchasing items for wives, gifts and suits for themselves, increasing their pay exponentially to outrageous salaries that has allowed them to pocket millions in taxpayer money..Mr. James collects a yearly salary of over $300K which is very, very comfortable yet all he spends is taxpayer money?! The entitlement and addiction to spending taxpayer money on themselves…its so gut wrenching. I actually had tears in my eyes about this today while listening to the radio, angry tears. Thats how upset I am that government staff are doing this while millions of people are barely surviving. I mean, its fist crunching anger.
I’d really like to know what Mr. James has on the BC Liberals; that is very interesting. The previous speakers in the House should also be investigated as far back as the 90’s! They all signed off on Mr. James’s policies for 30 years! They were likely corrupt too. Complete reform is required for any trust to be built and all taxpayer funded expenses should 100% be viewable online by the public. We have every right to know what our money is doing in this Province. Especially if hundreds of millions are unnecessarily being spent; I’m sure we’d all like to keep that in our pockets so we can have a retirement savings!
These outrageous allegations, if proven, will affirm the concerns that many have expressed, regarding a culture of unaccountability under Christy Clark – ‘the wild west of BC politics’, – remember those headlines?
It also raises other questions: how extensive was the Triple Delete scandal? Is it possible that there is much more nefarious stuff that was erased?
Given that there was such a free flow of staff between the PMO under Harper & the BC Liberals, – how far does this rot extend? It seems that some of those staffers are now attached to Andrew Scheer, & the CPC. With a federal election approaching, what are the potential implications for BC?
Thank you for this update and your vigilance. This is an issue of culture & accountability that goes much deeper than can be dealt with with just a few heads rolling. I hope the legislature has the stomach to investigate not just what took place, but what allowed it to take place at all.
This province needs a serious house-cleaning at every level. This incident is just the tip of the iceberg, and for all the denials and crocodile tears. this outrageous sense of entitlement can be found at every level of government. One only needs to look at “The Municipal Charter” which disenfranchises the average citizen and imposes a virtual dictatorship by politicians and staff sanctioned by secrecy for 4 years. To restore faith in government is going to take a lot more than the mere firing of Lenz and James.
I am now retired from the BC Public Service and can hardly begin to express my outrage at the behaviour described in this report. I also wish to point out that in the Gordon Campbell days, there was a formal Whistleblower program that seems to have quietly faded away during the Clark regime. Now I know why.
Time to return ethics to the political scene in BC, time to vote Green!!