Victoria — Premier Gordon Campbell said Friday the resignation of one of his ministers — less than four weeks after a police raid at the B.C. legislature — is another tough challenge but won't change the government's agenda.
Mr. Campbell said Gordon Hogg did the honourable thing by resigning as minister of children and families.
"These are never good things to happen but British Columbia is the place that people want to be now and want to invest to build their futures," Mr. Campbell said.
Mr. Hogg suggested that he stepped down and his deputy minister was fired as a result of the circumstances surrounding a $400,000 loan that was forgiven without the required cabinet approval.
He said he would be happy to return to cabinet once the matter is sorted out. The loan now is undergoing an independent audit.
The resignation comes perhaps at the worst time for the B.C. government, say political experts.
The news came on the same day as lawyers for two ministerial aides argued in court that search warrants executed in the legislature last month should remain sealed.
"This is a government which is starting to approach a crisis situation," said political scientist Norman Ruff of the University of Victoria.
Mr. Campbell acknowledged the government has been facing tough challenges, but they are not interfering with its policy agenda.
"None of us like to go through any of this sort of stuff, but in terms of the government we're pursuing a very active agenda which is delivering real results to British Columbians." he said.
The offices of two B.C. ministerial aides were raided Dec. 28. Police said the raids were sparked by information that surfaced during a 20-month probe into drugs and organized crime.
Dave Basi, a ministerial assistant to Finance Minister Gary Collins, was fired the next day while Robert Virk, an assistant to Transportation Minister Judith Reid, was suspended with pay.
Neither has been accused of any wrongdoing and police have stressed no elected politician is connected to the investigation.
Mr. Campbell refused Friday to discuss a rumoured cabinet shuffle, saying he'll make an announcement when one is due.
The audit will investigate the government, the interim authority for Community Living B.C. and Doug Walls, a former president of a B.C. Liberal riding association who was appointed the acting CEO of the province's interim authority for community living.
Mr. Walls resigned as CEO last Saturday, a day after the announcement that a special prosecutor has been appointed to look into business practices at a car dealership once run by Mr. Walls.
Mr. Walls's wife is the cousin of Premier Gordon Campbell's wife. Mr. Walls has a daughter who is disabled and he was previously active working in the disabled community.
He was appointed six months after Mr. Hogg's ministry was notified allegations of fraud had been made against Mr. Walls by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
Mr. Walls denies those allegations.
The premier's office said Mr. Hogg's deputy minister, Chris Haynes, was fired Friday.
At a news conference at his constituency office in White Rock, a suburb of Vancouver, Mr. Hogg said that in early December he received information that a $400,000 debt had been written off by the current Liberal government in September 2001.
Mr. Hogg said he took that information to the assistant deputy minister responsible and asked him to look into it.
"He advised me a few days later that there was something and he wanted to engage the comptroller general and Ken Dobell, deputy minister to the premier."
On Thursday, Mr. Hogg said he sought a meeting with the premier to discuss the results of that initial inquiry about the debt.
The premier advised Mr. Hogg that the next step would be an independent audit.
Mr. Hogg said he doesn't know the details of any allegations connected with the $400,000 forgiven debt but decided to resign because the investigation involves the ministry for which he is responsible.
After the allegation of the forgiven debt in early December, Mr. Hogg said a longtime friend of his who has been a care provider in the community came to him with information contained in a three-ring binder.
"He said 'this will give you all the information you need to proceed and deal with the issue wrapped up in this'," Mr. Hogg said his friend told him.
Mr. Hogg said he did not look at the binder but passed it onto the comptroller general.
"My understanding is that it (the independent audit) will look into ministry's involvement as to whether there was this forgiveness and how that tied to the interim authority and how Mr. Walls is involved in that."
Mr. Hogg said it was his "understanding" that the previous NDP government had entered into some contracts for the development of information technology platforms "and they advanced some money to do those things and I don't think it was received."
He said the current Liberal government then forgave this debt.
"That's my understanding but that's just speculation that I've received."
It's also not clear how and why the debt was forgiven.
Mr. Hogg was asked why he is resigning when he said he had nothing to do with any alleged wrongdoing.
"The issue is not necessarily the (interim) authority because what we are talking about is an investigation that looks at what the practice of government was with respect to this $400,000," he said.
