VANCOUVER— Premier Christy Clark needs to stop hiding how much the public is paying to cover legal bills for her current and former political staff, say New Democrats.
“Government documents revealed that B.C. taxpayers have been fronting legal fees for at least six of Christy Clark’s current and former employees in connection to the so-called ‘Quick Wins’ scandal and the ongoing criminal investigation by Special Prosecutor David Butcher,” said David Eby, MLA for Vancouver Point Grey. “But when an FOI request was put in for records about indemnities granted to eight individuals, including former Christy Clark political staffers Kim Haakstad, Fiera Lo, Rishi Sharma and Pamela Martin, the government released 202 blank pages. We still don’t even know how much has been spent.”
When the Opposition requested similar records for former and current political staffers Dave Ritchie, Mike Lee, Brian Bonney and Barinder Bhullar, the government responded that it “neither confirms or denies the existence of the records [you have] requested.”
“This is just another example of the Christy Clark government’s ‘delete, delete, delete’ culture,” said Eby. “At a time when Christy Clark is hammering average British Columbians with massive cost hikes from the medical services tax, to ferry fares, to ICBC and hydro rates, taxpayers deserve to know where their hard earned money is going, especially if the money is going to legal fees for another Christy Clark scandal cover up.”
Here are links to the the FOI correspondence letters: