VICTORIA – A damning report on the B.C. Liberal government’s failure to prepare for a major earthquake confirms the reason they rushed to appoint former Liberal MLA John Les to a $140,000 patronage job was because they needed a political fixer for a problem they knew was coming.

“The report from B.C.’s auditor general is a scathing indictment of the lack of emergency planning in B.C.,” said New Democrat public safety Critic Kathy Corrigan.

Corrigan noted the report said that the province is not adequately prepared for a catastrophic earthquake. It criticized the Liberal government for failing to give the public sufficient information to understand the risks they are facing or to determine the level of preparedness that they must achieve to protect themselves, their families and their communities.

“The Liberals knew this report was coming so they scrambled to pull together this earthquake consultation committee to mitigate the political fallout, appointing their Liberal friend to a $140,000 patronage position.

“The only emergency that the B.C. Liberals were prepared for was a political one.”