April 5, 2016

Statement

VICTORIA— New Democrat Surrey MLAs Harry Bains, Sue Hammell and Bruce Ralston issued the following statement demanding immediate and effective action from the Christy Clark government in light of escalating violence in Surrey:

“There were too many shootings in Surrey last year, and this year we’re seeing more than double the number. In 2015, there were 60 shootings in Surrey, and as of yesterday the 2016 count is at 31, several of which were in broad daylight and near school grounds.

“What’s even more worrying is the fact that there is currently no effective strategy in place from the Christy Clark government to reduce and eliminate gun violence in Surrey. Children and families are feeling terrorized, and many are too scared to leave their home in the evening.

“People in Surrey deserve to feel safe, they deserve real and immediate solutions to the violence their communities are facing, and they deserve better than the lack of support that they are getting from the Christy Clark government.

VICTORIA — New statements from a former government staffer show that the B.C. Liberals have not given British Columbians the true story on the hush money scandal, say New Democrats.

Responding to an email detailing a plan to offer jobs and financial inducements to someone who had information that “would damage the Premier and the party,” Premier Christy Clark claimed that there was “no evidence that it was ever acted on.” Yet the subject of the email, Sepideh Sarrafpour, said she was in fact offered a job, confirming that the plan outlined in the email was followed.

“How much more stonewalling and distraction will British Columbians have to endure before the B.C. Liberals tell the truth about what happened?” asked New Democrat leader Adrian Dix.

Sarrafpour also said she attended a meeting in August 2012 in the premier’s Vancouver office, at which then–Multiculturalism Minister John Yap instructed her and others to generate contact lists that were to be used in the upcoming election.

“Did John Yap tell Mr. Dyble about the work Ms. Sarrafpour was doing during the internal investigation, or did he maintain he didn’t know anything?” asked Vancouver-Mount Pleasant MLA Jenny Kwan.

“Before the election, the premier said the ‘quick wins’ document was just a draft, but now we know it was much more than that. She said the plan in the hush money email was never implemented, but now we know it was. The minister responsible at the time, John Yap, said he had nothing to do with any of it, and here we have a witness saying that in fact he was running meetings about it,” said Kwan.

“This government has a profound credibility problem on these issues,” added Dix.

The internal investigation into the scandal was run out of the premier’s office and was limited in scope. It could not look at wrongdoing by the Liberal caucus or the Liberal Party, and the 10,000 pages of documentation gathered when creating the report were only released after the election.

“New Democrats have been calling for an independent, external investigation of this scandal since day one. This government has refused, and they want British Columbians to believe them when they claim that their internal investigation was thorough,” said New Democrat multiculturalism critic Bruce Ralston.

“But we know that this investigation was far from thorough. Its scope was extremely limited, and key figures like Sepideh Sarrafpour were never interviewed.”

New Democrats are calling for an independent, external investigation of the Quick Wins scandal.

July 18, 2013

VICTORIA — New statements from a former government staffer show that the B.C. Liberals have not given British Columbians the true story on the hush money scandal, say New Democrats.

Responding to an email detailing a plan to offer jobs and financial inducements to someone who had information that “would damage the Premier and the party,” Premier Christy Clark claimed that there was “no evidence that it was ever acted on.” Yet the subject of the email, Sepideh Sarrafpour, said she was in fact offered a job, confirming that the plan outlined in the email was followed.

“How much more stonewalling and distraction will British Columbians have to endure before the B.C. Liberals tell the truth about what happened?” asked New Democrat leader Adrian Dix.

Sarrafpour also said she attended a meeting in August 2012 in the premier’s Vancouver office, at which then–Multiculturalism Minister John Yap instructed her and others to generate contact lists that were to be used in the upcoming election.

“Did John Yap tell Mr. Dyble about the work Ms. Sarrafpour was doing during the internal investigation, or did he maintain he didn’t know anything?” asked Vancouver-Mount Pleasant MLA Jenny Kwan.

“Before the election, the premier said the ‘quick wins’ document was just a draft, but now we know it was much more than that. She said the plan in the hush money email was never implemented, but now we know it was. The minister responsible at the time, John Yap, said he had nothing to do with any of it, and here we have a witness saying that in fact he was running meetings about it,” said Kwan.

“This government has a profound credibility problem on these issues,” added Dix.

The internal investigation into the scandal was run out of the premier’s office and was limited in scope. It could not look at wrongdoing by the Liberal caucus or the Liberal Party, and the 10,000 pages of documentation gathered when creating the report were only released after the election.

“New Democrats have been calling for an independent, external investigation of this scandal since day one. This government has refused, and they want British Columbians to believe them when they claim that their internal investigation was thorough,” said New Democrat multiculturalism critic Bruce Ralston.

“But we know that this investigation was far from thorough. Its scope was extremely limited, and key figures like Sepideh Sarrafpour were never interviewed.”

New Democrats are calling for an independent, external investigation of the Quick Wins scandal.

July 18, 2013

VICTORIA — New statements from a former government staffer show that the B.C. Liberals have not given British Columbians the true story on the hush money scandal, say New Democrats.

Responding to an email detailing a plan to offer jobs and financial inducements to someone who had information that “would damage the Premier and the party,” Premier Christy Clark claimed that there was “no evidence that it was ever acted on.” Yet the subject of the email, Sepideh Sarrafpour, said she was in fact offered a job, confirming that the plan outlined in the email was followed.

“How much more stonewalling and distraction will British Columbians have to endure before the B.C. Liberals tell the truth about what happened?” asked New Democrat leader Adrian Dix.

Sarrafpour also said she attended a meeting in August 2012 in the premier’s Vancouver office, at which then–Multiculturalism Minister John Yap instructed her and others to generate contact lists that were to be used in the upcoming election.

“Did John Yap tell Mr. Dyble about the work Ms. Sarrafpour was doing during the internal investigation, or did he maintain he didn’t know anything?” asked Vancouver-Mount Pleasant MLA Jenny Kwan.

“Before the election, the premier said the ‘quick wins’ document was just a draft, but now we know it was much more than that. She said the plan in the hush money email was never implemented, but now we know it was. The minister responsible at the time, John Yap, said he had nothing to do with any of it, and here we have a witness saying that in fact he was running meetings about it,” said Kwan.

“This government has a profound credibility problem on these issues,” added Dix.

The internal investigation into the scandal was run out of the premier’s office and was limited in scope. It could not look at wrongdoing by the Liberal caucus or the Liberal Party, and the 10,000 pages of documentation gathered when creating the report were only released after the election.

“New Democrats have been calling for an independent, external investigation of this scandal since day one. This government has refused, and they want British Columbians to believe them when they claim that their internal investigation was thorough,” said New Democrat multiculturalism critic Bruce Ralston.

“But we know that this investigation was far from thorough. Its scope was extremely limited, and key figures like Sepideh Sarrafpour were never interviewed.”

New Democrats are calling for an independent, external investigation of the Quick Wins scandal.