B.C.'s conflict of interest commissioner has stepped away from conducting a possible investigation into Premier Christy Clark's alleged actions around the sale of B.C. Rail, saying he too may be considered in a conflict.
Paul Fraser - citing unique family connections - issued a statement Tuesday saying Northwest Territories conflict commissioner Gerald Gerrand will now handle a request by Independent B.C. MLA John van Dongen to investigate allegations the former Liberal is making against Clark.
Last week, van Dongen asked Fraser to conduct a conflict probe focusing on Clark, but when he found out a day later Fraser has a son who works for the Liberal government, he asked Fraser to step aside.
Fraser's son, John Paul Fraser, is an assistant deputy minister within the B.C. government and is a friend of the premier's.
Fraser's statement said he considered van Dongen's request over the weekend and decided that due to his family connections, he should hand over the investigation request to Gerrand, who served as Saskatchewan's conflict commissioner from 2000 to 2010.
Last week, van Dongen filed an official request with Fraser's office to conduct an investigation to determine if Clark was in a conflict of interest nine years ago when the Liberal government sold the Crown-owned B.C. Rail.
Van Dongen, who said earlier he's spent $100,000 of his own money preparing the conflict request he submitted to Fraser's office, said the public is entitled to have confidence in the integrity of the conflict-of-interest complaint process.
Clark was the education minister and deputy premier in 2003 when the sale of B.C. Rail to CN Rail occurred, triggering a series of events that saw the police raid the legislature and two Liberal government aides plead guilty to corruption-related charges.
She said earlier she will cooperate fully with an investigation if one proceeds.
