The fall legislative session ended Tuesday with no more answers about the suspended senior legislative officers, dashing the hopes of the clerk and sergeant-at-arms that they could be reinstated as the investigation takes place.
The B.C. Liberals attempted, unsuccessfully, to introduce a motion that would allow MLAs to review their unanimous vote to suspend sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz and clerk Craig James last week.
The men are suspended pending the results of a police investigation related to their administrative duties. The clerk oversees the running of the legislature and the sergeant-at-arms is in charge of security.
Two special prosecutors have been appointed, but no charges have been laid and no details of the allegations have been released.
Opposition Leader Andrew Wilkinson said members voted on Nov. 20 without crucial information as to the role Speaker Darryl Plecas and his friend and special adviser Alan Mullen played in the investigation that led to the suspensions. Most MLAs were also not informed that Plecas suggested Mullen take over as acting sergeant-at-arms, even before Lenz was placed on administrative leave.
The motion needed unanimous consent to be introduced and it failed to get support from NDP house leader and Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth and B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver.
“I think there’s a great deal of uncertainty about where this investigation came from, whether it was conducted properly and whether the motion brought to the house was properly put together,” Wilkinson told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
“Having learned what we have about the dubious credentials of the investigator, we would [ask more detailed questions] if we were given this proposition again.”
Many have questioned whether Mullen, a former corrections manager at Kent Institution, had the proper qualifications to assist Plecas with the internal investigation into Lenz and James, the results of which were forwarded to the police in August.
Mullen was hired in January by Plecas, whom he met when Plecas was an adjudicator at Kent Institution.
At a press conference in Vancouver on Monday, Lenz and James proclaimed their innocence, said they would fully co-operate with the RCMP investigation and asked to be reinstated while the investigation proceeds.
However, a vote in the legislature is required to lift their suspensions and the legislature will now recess until February 2019.
The B.C. Liberals also pressured Farnworth to call an emergency all-party legislative assembly management committee meeting.
The committee, which oversees administration and financial management of the legislative assembly, is set to meet on Dec. 6, but Liberal MLA Shirley Bond said that isn’t good enough considering the urgency of the matter.
Premier John Horgan acknowledged that “it’s been a difficult week” in the legislature and said he “wishes the events of the last week had not happened.” However, he said the deputy clerk and deputy sergeant-at-arms have stepped in to ensure the legislature continues to function smoothly.
Horgan also defended Plecas, saying “his impartiality is not in question as far as I’m concerned.”
