Opposition Leader Andrew Wilkinson issued a plea Thursday for all parties to drop the political posturing and work co-operatively in a bipartisan way to restore people’s confidence in the legislature.
For a brief period, the idea hung in the air — that the scandalous report by Speaker Darryl Plecas on the spending habits of the suspended legislature officers might bring everyone together in the spirit of public service.
It lasted the time it took to stick microphones in Premier John Horgan’s face and ask him how he felt about co-operating with the B.C. Liberals (29 minutes, by my watch). He went at them like a … wood-splitter.
There are simply too many threads in all the revelations — particularly about clerk Craig James — that lead back to Liberals past and present. All of them have to be pulled and scrutinized.
There is too much bad blood from the 16 years the NDP spent watching from opposition as the B.C. Liberals ran the castle. More recently, the memory of the disdain the Liberals had for Plecas before he released the report this week is still fresh in everyone’s mind.
And while the Green Party caucus doesn’t have as long a track record of dealing with the Liberals, they’re just as avid to pursue any links between the Speaker’s exposé and the previous government.
Wilkinson’s idea of everyone pitching in to clean up the mess was dead on arrival. Horgan served notice the day before that he was going to heap as much blame for the culture of entitlement on the Liberals as possible.
He continued the theme Thursday.
Horgan said the principle of bipartisan reform is fine, but only a few weeks ago, the Liberals were calling Plecas a “rogue Speaker” who was out of control.
Standing together with Wilkinson now to follow up on the report is “not something I’m prepared to do,” he said.
Memories of past slights from the clerk’s office related to the Liberals are also still fresh in his mind.
He said in years of service as an MLA and a house leader, James “never visited me, never sought me out.”
But the records revealed by Plecas show the clerk made numerous trips where Liberal MLAs were listed as the destination. According to the lists Plecas compiled, James was claiming up to $1,000 for visits with former Liberal Speaker Bill Barisoff in the Interior years after he had left office.
It also alleges Barisoff arranged a $259,000 retirement allowance payout for James, even though he didn’t retire.
The matter of Liberal MLA Linda Reid also gets in the way of any bipartisan cleanup and reform efforts.
She is a former Speaker, and Horgan backed her during a different spending controversy. But now Plecas’s report notes concerns about an unnamed MLA’s travel expenses that add fuel to the fire.
It turned out to be Reid. A staff member raised queries about mileage claims and taxi fares that don’t appear to add up, along with per diems claimed on days when meals were provided.
It sounds like relatively small change, considering everything else in the report. But it also alleges that the matter was not adequately investigated and steps were taken to ensure no further investigations would be made.
So Wilkinson and the B.C. Liberals will likely be on the sidelines watching whatever develops in the aftermath of the Speaker’s report.
They should spend the time preparing answers for all the questions about the links between the legislature officers’ conduct and their members. Because the NDP and Greens are eager to start asking.
