B.C. Liberals will not release 2nd ethnic outreach probe - Action News
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British Columbia

B.C. Liberals will not release 2nd ethnic outreach probe

The chair of the B.C. Liberal caucus says he can't release the results of a second investigation into the role Liberal caucus staff played in the ethnic outreach scandal because lawyers have told him it would violate people's privacy.

Caucus chair Gordon Hogg says releasing report would violate privacy rights

2nd ethnic outreach probe staying secret

12 years ago
Duration 2:04
Investigation into the ethnic outreach scandal is kept secret for privacy reasons

The chair of the B.C. Liberal caucus says he can't releasethe results of a second investigationinto the role Liberalcaucus staffplayed in theethnic outreach scandalbecause lawyers have told him it would violate people's privacy.

Surrey-White Rock MLA Gordon Hogg looked into the role played by seven Liberal staff members named in the report released yesterday by Christy Clark's deputy minister John Dyble.

Yesterday Dyble released a scathing reportthat found several instances of serious breaches of public policy by government employees doing partisan political work for the B.C. Liberals while on the public payroll.

Dyble's report placed the majority of the blame on Christy Clark's deputy chief of staff,Kim Haakstad, and former government communications director Brian Bonney, both of whom have since quit.

'Certainly, there were parts of that report that turned my stomach.' B.C. Liberal caucus chair Gordon Hogg

Hogg said he found Dyble's report troubling but his own investigation found no evidence that information from within caucus was moved to the B.C. Liberal Party.

"Certainly, there were parts of that report that turned my stomach and made me feel that some of the actions being taken were terribly opportunistic and certainly could have been deemed to be racist and not very respectful of the multicultural nature of our province and our country," Hogg said.

ButHogg said it wascredible to believethat Premier Clark knew nothing of the ethnic outreach strategy that was being developed by government staffers on behalf of the B.C. Liberal Party.

"Certainly, one of our concerns was that some of our caucus staff was working directly with direction from outside of caucus," he said.

B.C. Liberal caucus chair Gordon Hogg, shown in this 2004 picture, says he can't release the results of his investigation into the ethnic outreach scandal because of privacy laws. (CP Images)

Furthermore, Hogg says he can't release his report because lawyers have told him it would breach privacy rights.

"We submitted it to legal counsel and had them review it and they came back and said to us, particularly based on the [Personal] Information [Protection] Act, we would be breaking the act if we released that information."

Hogg says he supports an external review of both the Liberal and NDP caucuses.

"With respect to tightening of the roles and the actions that were taken, we certainly would welcome a review, which is whatsome the opposition have called for."

Yesterday Premier Christy Clark said her government will adopt all of the recommendations from Dyble's report and her party will repay $70,000 in misspent public funds.