RCMP interviews Paton over alleged paid offer to vacate seat for Findlay

PENTICTON — RCMP officers were scheduled to sit down with Independent Delta South MLA Ian Paton Wednesday morning and ask him about an alleged paid offer to resign his seat so Conservative Party of BC Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay could run in a by-election.Paton quit Findlay’s caucus on August 24. He has said her chief of staff, Chris Delaney, phoned him twice in late June and early July, then raised the same proposal at the July 2-3 caucus retreat in Penticton: step down, take a two-year agriculture adviser role with the party, and keep the same pay an MLA draws.British Columbia MLAs earn $122,043 a year. Paton refused.“There are two of them coming down tomorrow morning to my office,” he told Black Press Media on Tuesday. He said he now believes investigators have already spoken with at least two other Conservatives who may have received similar approaches, and he named Prince George-Valemount Independent Rosalyn Bird as one of them..Bird would not confirm. “The only thing I’m willing to say on record is that Kerry-Lynne Findlay did ask me for my seat,” she told Black Press last Thursday. “Any other details regarding what those conversations looked like in detail, I am not willing to comment on.”She added that “agencies responsible” would decide whether the public allegations amount to impropriety. “It’s not for me to decide.”.The three sitting Conservatives who publicly confirmed in late July that they had been asked to vacate, and who declined, were Paton, Bird and West Vancouver-Capilano MLA Lynne Block. Veteran BC politics reporter and former BC Liberal MLA Jas Johal first named the trio on July 29..Each of the three later confirmed the ask on the record. Only Paton has alleged a salary-matched staff job attached to the request. Block is the only one of the trio who remains in Findlay’s caucus.Findlay has denied any job-for-seat deal. “At no point was there any offer or discussion regarding MLA Ian Paton stepping down from his seat in exchange for a job of any description, salary, or position,” she said in a written statement on August 24.She later told reporters some members were approached to step aside and that nobody was offered anything in exchange. After an anonymous account posted a July caucus recording, she called the suggestion of a criminal offence a “preposterous” smear and “normal political discussions that respect the boundaries of the law and ethics.”.On the tape, a voice matching Findlay’s says that if someone was willing to step aside, “I could give them a role as a senior advisor in their same portfolio so that they’re very much involved and around. But, you know, it would allow for a by-election.”.Sections 124 and 125 of the Criminal Code make it an offence to sell or purchase a resignation from an office for a reward or profit, or to solicit, recommend or negotiate a resignation in expectation of a direct or indirect reward, advantage or benefit. Both are hybrid offences. On indictment the maximum sentence is five years.Vancouver criminal lawyer Joven Narwal, an adjunct professor at UBC’s Allard School of Law, told the Vancouver Sun the sections do not criminalize ordinary political horse-trading. “Negotiation, accommodation, and even a member’s decision to step aside so a leader can seek a seat are ordinary incidents of political life that are not criminalized,” he said. What the offence captures, on his reading, is a narrow, transactional purchase or sale of a public office. A prosecutor would have to prove a quid pro quo beyond a reasonable doubt and close off innocent explanations.Published Canadian court judgments dating back to 2001 contain no convictions under those two sections. A Vancouver Sun search this month found none. No British Columbia politician has been convicted on the file.The nearest modern analogue is not a Criminal Code case at all. In 2014 and 2015, Ontario Liberal organizers Pat Sorbara and Gerry Lougheed were accused of offering would-be Sudbury candidate Andrew Olivier a job or appointment to stand aside so then-NDP MP Glenn Thibeault could cross and run in a provincial by-election. Olivier taped the calls. Police looked at both the provincial Election Act and the Criminal Code. Sorbara was cleared on the criminal file. The Election Act bribery trial ended in October 2017 when Justice Howard Borenstein granted a directed verdict and acquitted both accused before the defence called a witness..Elections BC has already said the provincial Election Act does not regulate an elected official’s decision to resign a seat, and that such conduct sits outside its jurisdiction. That leaves the Criminal Code and, inside the precinct, the Legislative Assembly’s standing orders against offering a member money or another advantage on a matter before the House.RCMP E Division will not say whether a formal investigation is underway. “Generally speaking, the RCMP does not confirm or deny any investigation, or the identity of any person who may be subject to an investigation, until such time as charges have been laid,” Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said.Paton said he did not grasp the legal risk at the time. “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.”Findlay still has no seat. Abbotsford-Mission MLA Reann Gasper resigned on August 22 so the leader could run there. Two days later the caucus named Gasper deputy chief of staff, a taxpayer-paid caucus post. Findlay has said the staff job was offered after the resignation, not before. Premier David Eby set the by-election for Saturday, September 26.No charges have been laid.

RCMP interviews Paton over alleged paid offer to vacate seat for Findlay

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