B.C. Supreme Court dismisses challenge of conflict of interest rulings clearing premier

The B.C. Supreme Courtwon't hear a challenge against two rulings that cleared Premier Christy Clark of conflict of interest allegations, a judgeannounced Wednesday.

Democracy Watch, an Ottawa-based citizen advocacy group, had petitioned the court to set aside last year'sdecisions from the provincialconflict commissioner.

In May, Paul Fraserdismissed complaints that Clark's attendance atexclusive B.C. Liberal Party fundraisers,as well as her annual $50,000 stipend,wereunethical.

A few months later, he ruled against similar allegations and said he considered the matter "closed."

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Fraser said the premierhadn't violated the Members' Conflict of Interest Actbecause she hadn't received a personal benefit.

Earlier this month, Democracy Watch petitioned to have both rulingsset aside.

The organization also asked that the court find Fraser shouldn't have been involved in the decisions to begin with on account of bias, as his son works for the provincialgovernment.

On Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice KennethAffleck ruled that no court challenges would be allowed on Fraser'sdecisions because they are protected by legislative privilege and are consequently "unreviewable."

In a statement, Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conachersaid the organization "wasn't prepared to let the issue go."

Lawyer Jason Gratlsaid the group is considering an appeal.

Last week, Clark announced that she is no longer receiving the annual stipend from her party.

She said the payment, which came on top of her annual $195,000 salary, had become "a distraction."

With files from the Canadian Press