A former B.C. government communications director has been charged with breach of trust in connection with the “quick wins” ethnic outreach scandal.
Special prosecutor David Butcher approved the criminal charge against Brian Ashly Bonney, former director for multiculturalism communications, government communications and public engagement. He is alleged to have committed breach of trust in connection with his duties as a communications director.
Bonney has appeared in court and was released on a recognizance with terms and conditions, B.C.’s criminal justice branch said in a statement.
His next appearance is set for June 23 in Vancouver.
Outside Vancouver’s law courts, Bonney’s lawyer, Ian Donaldson, said his client will fight the criminal charge, which came on the same day that Elections Act charges alleging failure to disclose a campaign contribution against Bonney and Liberal Mark Robertson were stayed.
A numbered B.C. communications company that was also charged pleaded guilty and was fined $5,000. Bonney was the president of the numbered company, said Dan McLaughlin, spokesman for the criminal justice branch.
The ethnic outreach controversy erupted prior to the provincial election in 2013 when the NDP obtained a leaked “multicultural strategic outreach plan.” The document appeared to show Liberal officials discussing the use of government resources to woo ethnic voters. The plan also suggested the Liberals could score “quick wins” by apologizing to ethnic groups for past wrongs.
Premier Christy Clark apologized in the legislature at the time and ordered her then-deputy minister, John Dyble, to investigate. His review found a number of breaches of public duty, and the B.C. Liberal Party returned $70,000 of misspent taxpayer money.
Former NDP leader Adrian Dix later complained to police in August 2013, the RCMP launched an investigation, and Butcher was appointed as special prosecutor given the potential involvement of government officials as suspects.
In 2014, Butcher approved the Election Act charges against Bonney, Robertson and the numbered company.
The RCMP continued to investigate other potential offences arising out of the Liberals’ “draft multicultural strategic outreach plan,” the criminal justice branch said.
Over the course of the investigation, Butcher received three separate reports to Crown counsel from the RCMP before approving the new charge against Bonney.
NDP Leader John Horgan said the fact that the investigation took nearly three years suggests a lack of co-operation from Liberal officials.
“I think the real issue here is that we have a government that’s spending more time covering its tracks, more time within investigations and reviews and the RCMP than they are with meeting the needs of families in British Columbia,” he said.
But Deputy Premier Rich Coleman dismissed allegations that government failed to co-operate with investigators.
“I don’t think that’s true at all,” he said, noting that special prosecutors operate independent of government. “I do find that these things take a long time.”
Butcher said in the news release that the length of the investigation relates to its breadth, complexity and the Criminal Code requirements that apply to police while completing their work.
