The majority of British Columbia’s newly minted NDP cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries have published either empty work calendars or have outright refused to disclose them – potentially flouting requirements under freedom of information laws.
Despite not being set to sit in the legislature until Feb. 18, Eby gave a pay raise to his caucus to nearly all of his cabinet ministers except for one MLA, Rohini Arora. The legislature hasn’t met since May 16.
According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Eby’s new cabinet will put B.C. taxpayers on the hook for at least $1.9 million after hiring an enlarged number of cabinet appointees—the B.C. NDP voted to give ministers an additional $60,000 top-up to their base salary of $120,000.
Ministers of the state will receive an additional $42,000 and parliamentary secretaries can bank on an extra $18,000 to their base salary.
The B.C. government is required by law to reveal the schedules to the public. According to the calendar information obtained by the B.C. Conservatives the schedules show that Eby only had one single reported cabinet meeting in November following their victory, and it skipped one other meeting.
Nine parliamentary secretaries reported “no work-related meetings or calls whatsoever.”
Ministers, ministers of state, and parliamentary secretaries are required to release their work calendars per the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act within 45 days of the month in question.
B.C. Conservatives allege that seven of Eby’s cabinet ministers, two ministers of state and four parliamentary secretaries breached the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act by not revealing their November schedules to the public.
They said most new cabinet ministers posted empty schedules or “withheld the records.”
“Parliamentary secretaries who turned in ‘NIL’ calendars, and those who reported no work-related meetings or calls at all, need to explain themselves,” Milobar said.
Jessie Sunner, the Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-Racism Initiatives, reported only two working hours in November and was the only parliamentary secretary to report meetings with her respective cabinet minister at the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Among those who did not withdraw meeting records, six parliamentary secretaries submitted “nothing-to-report” in their filings.
The B.C. NDP government did not respond to True North’s requests to comment.
“What’s obvious from these records is that David Eby gave his entire caucus a big pay raise, and then they mostly went on vacation on the taxpayer’s dime,” B.C. Conservative Finance Critic Peter Milobar said in the statement released by his party.
B.C. NDP Minister of Education and Childcare Lisa Beare is one of the 13 who allegedly withheld their scheduling information following the NDP victory.
“Lisa Beare can’t claim ignorance of her freedom of information obligations. She oversaw FOI as former Minister of Citizens’ Services and introduced one of the calendar directives herself,” said Milobar. “Beare has worked extensively on the FOI file – after all, she’s also the one who introduced $10 processing fees for freedom of information requests.”
Beare did not respond to True North’s requests to comment.
“These NDP MLAs all received promotions and pay bumps from David Eby, but they have chosen to blatantly ignore their obligations as elected officials,” Milobar said. “Are they hiding something?
