B.C. Liberals repay $70,000 in misspent government funds
Internal government probe into ethnic outreach strategy finds serious breaches
B.C. Premier Christy Clark says her government will adopt all of the recommendations from a probe thatfound a number of serious breaches of the government's code of conduct, including having her party repay $70,000 in misspent public funds.
Just before noon, Clark's deputy minister, John Dyble,released his internal investigationinto the ethnic strategy document and those involved in its creation.
It found numerous other breaches of the government code of conduct by a number of political staffers and other government employees, including several deemed to be serious breaches.
The nearly 100-page report concluded that as much as $70,000 ofgovernment resources were inappropriately used by government workers to create the ethnic outreach document and to work on partisan activities for the B.C. Liberal Party.
Official conclusions:
Some officials did not draw a boundary between their partisan and government roles.
Inappropriate activity occurred around the procurement of community liaison contractors.
Community liaison contractors were given work before contracts were approved and signed, resulting in payment for work done when the contract process was cancelled.
- Confidential information, such as contact lists from government events, was inappropriately sent to personal email accounts.
- There were two serious instances of government resources being misused.
But it 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.
The reportconcluded as much as half of Bonney's time was spent on party or partisan activities while he was being paid by taxpayers.
As for the actual ethnic outreach document itself, the report found the plan was first developed inDecember 2011 at ameeting at the B.C. legislature organized by Kim Haakstad.
Others, including the premier's outreach director, Pamela Martin, attended this meeting along with a B.C. Liberal Party official.
The document was then drafted on government computers by two political staffers, Mike Lee and Dave Ritchie. Lee, the former executive assistant to John Yap,resigned on Thursday without severance.
The report foundno evidence that the premierhad any knowledge or involvement with the plan, or that her two former multiculturalism ministers, Harry Bloy or John Yap, did either.
Liberals to repay staffer's salary
Shortly after the report was released, Clark announced that the B.C. Liberal Party had already cuta cheque for $70,000 to repay part of Bonney's salary.
She called the report fair andpromised the government would be adopting all of the recommendations.
"We need to do things right, and to make sure they are done right," said Clark.
Clark also said that of the three government staffers identified in the report as having made serious breaches of public policy, one is no longer with the government and two have resigned without severance.
Official recommendations:
- Consider the involvement and culpability of each of the political staff involved in the events discussed in the report and take appropriate disciplinary and corrective action.
- Ensure that senior staff set expectations among political staff that all existing financial and administrative policies on procurement and supervision of contract staff be followed without exception.
- Give direction particularly to political and communications staff to ensure they understand their obligations with respect to the use of government email and the appropriate use of personal computers for government purposes, as outlined in Government Core Policy.
- Direct Legal Services Branch to secure any government records in the possession of former employees named in this report and seek an undertaking these records have not been used for inappropriate purposes.
- Improve the standards of conduct for political staff.
- Direct the Comptroller General to determine if any recovery of expenditure or payment is necessary.
She could not name the staffers because of confidentiality rules, but pointed out that both Haakstad andBonney have since resigned.
Clark also said Yap would not be returning to cabinet because of the report.
After Clark's announcement, Yap said he stepped down because he made a mistake advising his staff about some of the contracts involved.
"I made a mistake here and I'm owning up to it," said the MLA for Richmond-Steveston.
A separate report into B.C. Liberal caucus involvement by B.C. Liberal caucus chairGordon Hoggis alsoexpected to be released this afternoon.
On Thursday afternoon,NDP Leader Adrian Dix said the findings in Dyble's report were disappointing for taxpayers.
"It's very disconcerting to see the specific statements made by the government in its initial response that no public money was used and no information was shared, was so dramatically contradicted," Dix said.
"And this was a plan, not a document, a plan the government implemented over time and it's very unfortunate."
Premier has already apologized
Clark has alreadyapologized several timesto the province's ethnic communities for the document.
The outreach plan, which was leaked to the NDP, laid out the Liberal's pre-election strategy for "quick wins" in ethnic communities. Itsuggested government staffers co-ordinate their activities with the Liberal party to help them woo voters in key ethnic communities.
Before the report was released NDP house leader John Horgan said Wednesday he wasn't convinced it would provide all the answers.
"We certainly know the premier's office had a very active role using back channels to communicate with government officials and with contractors and with members of the Liberal party in Vancouver.What we don't know is if Mr. Dyble did any investigation on that side of the fence."
Horgan pointed out there are a number of areas where Dyble couldn't investigate.
"We have the Liberal caucus, where he has no authority. We have the B.C. Liberal Party involved, where he has no authority."
The ethnic outreach scandal has already led to a near revolt by a number of Liberal MLAs, theresignations of former Multiculturalism Minister John Yapand the premier's former deputy chief of staff, Kim Haakstad.
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