A10 • Friday, July 19, 2013 • Burnaby NOW
MLA questions Libs ‘hush money’ Plan involved Brian Bonney and exMLA Harry Bloy Jennifer Moreau staff reporter
Burnaby NDP MLA Kathy Corrigan is raising questions around an apparent plot to silence a woman working for the Liberals who may have had information that was damaging to the premier and the party. “It’s quite shocking. I just find myself shaking my head,” Corrigan said. “This seems to be standard practice with their government.” The controversy stems from correspondence
found in documents connected to Deputy Minister John Dyble’s investigation into the Liberals ethnic vote strategy, where the party was found using government resources for partisan purposes in a plan to target ethnic groups for “quick wins” in the lead-up to the provincial election. The latest development centres around an email from Burnaby’s Brian Bonney outlining a plan for former Burnaby MLA Harry Bloy to offer the woman in question, Sepideh Sarrafpour, a job and possibly money. “Have Harry Bloy meet with her and explain how doing anything would damage the premier and the party. Have him say how
he will try to find her work and get her back involved. … If need be, offer x dollars per month to do nonpublic work up to election (developing her database of potential supporters),” read Bonney’s email, which was forwarded to then-multiculturalism minister John Yap, who resigned after the ethnic vote scandal broke. Corrigan described the offer as “hush money.” “Essentially, it’s an inducement to keep her quiet about whatever information that she had that was damaging to the election chances and the premier,” Corrigan said. “We want to know now if this
is being criminally investigated.” Corrigan also has an email from Bonney to Yap, outlining plans for an Aug. 13 meeting about the multiculturalism strategy, with Sarrafpour and others who were hired as multicultural community liaisons. Corrigan pointed out that Premier Christy Clark said the plan was never implemented, yet the email suggests otherwise. The NOW contacted both Bonney and Bloy for comment, but neither was immediately available. For more on this story, see Jennifer Moreau’s blog at www.burnabynow.com.
City gets financial boost from province The B.C. government is giving the City of Burnaby nearly $1.4 million from the provincial coffers. “Over $1,300,000 will go a long way towards helping Burnaby provide services to residents and support high priority program,” said Burnaby North MLA Richard Lee in a press release. The money comes from the strategic community investment fund, which is intended to help the city provide basic services. The fund also includes money from the traffic fine revenue-sharing program, which is for cities, like Burnaby, that pay for RCMP services. The strategic community investment fund has provided B.C. communities $600 million since 2009. jmoreau@burnabynow.com
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