Dining out is getting more and more expensive in B.C., especially if you’re breaking bread with the premier.
Lobbyists have been shelling out as much as $10,000 for the privilege of dining with Christy Clark; and as voters and taxpayers, we’re curious what is and isn’t on the menu during those dinners.
We need to be clear that our premier has not done anything outside the law nor anything unethical. But simply put: it looks bad. The practice of essentially selling access to the premier has raised similar stinks in Ontario and Quebec.
In 2015, Woodfibre LNG paid to join West Vancouver Sea-to-Sky Liberal MLA Jordan Sturdy at a fundraising gala. It’s our guess the annual fundraiser, in which lobbyists, Liberal boosters and corporations buy tables, had absolutely nothing to do with the final approval of the facility. Again, nothing illegal. But we keep coming back to the way things look.
Those who lead our province need to avoid not only impropriety, but the appearance of impropriety.
When asked about a recent dinner hosted by Simon Fraser University’s chancellor, the premier’s office offered no comment of any substance. This effectively draws a veil over voters, who have no idea what our premier has been saying, nor who she’s been listening to.
Anyone spending $10,000 on dinner is likely expecting more than good clams: they want the premier’s attention, and possibly her favour.
We hope Clark will be just as attentive next year when she’s on the campaign trail, discussing transit passes and school funding over a double-double with those who don’t have five figures to drop for the pleasure of her company.
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