MLA's lips are sealed

By Dan Hilborn
Published March 13, 2004


Was he or wasn't he? Only the B.C. Liberals know for sure, and they're not talking.

Burnaby-Willingdon MLA John Nuraney was feeling the heat in Victoria this week after questions were raised in the legislature about whether he was one of several Liberals suspended from the party's caucus meetings.

"What happens in caucus is a caucus matter," Nuraney told the Burnaby Now on Thursday morning. "Matters discussed in caucus are not revealed."

The allegation that Nuraney was suspended was made during oral question period Wednesday by NDP house leader Joy MacPhail, who claimed the caucus committees are staffed by public servants and their expenses come out of the public purse.

"British Columbians have a right to an answer," MacPhail said in the house. "The opposition has been told that the member for Burnaby- Willingdon was suspended for financial improprieties related to an overseas trip."

And while Nuraney refused to answer questions about a possible suspension, he was adamant that he and his wife followed government protocols and paid out of pocket for his wife's expenses when they joined Premier Gordon Campbell and a large delegation of MLAs and others on a trip to India late last year.

"I took my wife and she paid her own way," Nuraney said. "The receipts are charged to my personal Visa account, and I can show you that. There's no secret."

But Nuraney followed the lead of deputy premier Christy Clark by refusing to answer whether he had been suspended from caucus.

When asked again on Thursday afternoon whether the public deserved to know if their MLA had been suspended, Nuraney said: "I've already answered that question. It's a matter for the caucus and that's private information for the caucus members. Caucus meetings have always historically been for the benefit of the members only."

Asked if he would be more comfortable knowing the issue was resolved, Nuraney said: "Everything needs to be put to rest at some point. In this case, it's something that is caucus' prerogative."

But that rule was apparently lifted on Tuesday when Liberal caucus chair, Kevin Krueger, confirmed that Surrey-Whalley MLA Elayne Brenzinger had been suspended from caucus in December. The revelation was made one day after Brenzinger quit the Liberal party, amid claims that the premier was embarking on "a secret agenda."

Krueger told a Vancouver Sun reporter that he revealed Brenzinger's suspension only because reporters were asking pointed questions, and that the information revealed elements of the Surrey MLA's credibility on the same day she challenged the premier's credibility.

Krueger also told the Sun that "very few" Liberal MLAs have been suspended. And he refused to identify them or reveal the number of suspensions.

In the house, NDP MLA Jenny Kwan said deputy premier Clark was simply trying to divert the issue by refusing to divulge the names of the suspended Liberals.

"We're not asking her (deputy premier Clark) to reveal the content of those internal caucus discussions," Kwan said. "Caucus has a right to assume that those debates are kept private. We're simply asking her: if caucus members have been suspended from having a role in caucus and in the development of government policy through government caucus committees, what charges were they dismissed on?"

In response, Clark gave a stirring defence of the Liberal's commitment to open and transparent government, one of the government's key promises made in the last election campaign.

"Since our government took office, we have done a number of things that I think made British Columbia a leader in transparency," Clark said, pointing to the fixed election dates, free votes in the legislature and the creation of the Citizen's Assembly.