RCMP seek interview with former B.C. Conservative MLA who says he was offered job to resign

Former British Columbia Conservative MLA Ian Paton says he expects police to ask about an alleged offer that would have paid him to give up his seat in the legislature.

Paton said the RCMP asked to interview him Wednesday, after he left the Conservative caucus last week during an exodus of MLAs from the official Opposition. He said Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s chief of staff, Chris Delaney, approached him in July about stepping down in Delta South so Findlay could run there.

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I was told I would be given some sort of a staff job as a party staffer and I would be an agriculture adviser or policy adviser to the B.C. Conservative Party.

According to Paton, the proposed arrangement would have given him a party staff position for two years at the same salary as an MLA. He said the role could have involved serving as an agriculture or policy adviser to the B.C. Conservative Party.

“I was told I would be given some sort of a staff job as a party staffer and I would be an agriculture adviser or policy adviser to the B.C. Conservative Party,” Paton said. He rejected the offer and said he did not initially know that negotiating a reward or benefit for resigning political office could violate Canada’s Criminal Code.

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I’ve never been through this before, so I thought well, maybe that’s fairly common. I didn’t realize it’s become such a big deal.

“I’ve never been through this before, so I thought well, maybe that’s fairly common. I didn’t realize it’s become such a big deal,” he said.

Findlay, who won the party leadership in May but does not hold a legislative seat, is scheduled to run in a byelection this month in Abbotsford-Mission. The seat became vacant after Conservative MLA Reann Gasper left it and was appointed Findlay’s deputy chief of staff.

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preposterous

Findlay has denied offering jobs in exchange for resignations. She called claims that an online recording showed her doing so “preposterous,” and said the recording captured “normal political discussions” that did not amount to a criminal offence. The RCMP said it was aware of the purported recording but would not confirm or deny an investigation or identify anyone under investigation before charges were laid.

Paton said he believed two other Conservatives had spoken with police in recent days. Bruce Banman, another former Conservative MLA, called Findlay “unelectable” and criticized concerns within the party about whether legislators were “hard right enough.”

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normal political discussions