Amrik Virk, the B.C. Liberal MLA for Surrey-Tyne head and Premier Christy Clark’s Minister of Advanced Education, had a rough time during the B.C. legislature’s spring sitting.
At issue was Virk’s pre-election conduct as a Liberal-appointee on the board of governors at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, which serves students in Surrey, Richmond and Langley.
Was it true, Virk was asked repeatedly, that he had deliberately violated pay guidelines for a newly hired Kwantlen executive, and then attempted to deceive the Ministry of Finance about the matter?
“Outlandish,” was Virk’s response.
The government, however, was so concerned that an Assistant Deputy Minister in the finance department was ordered to investigate.
The subsequent report confirmed the worst suspicions about Virk’s conduct, plus that of another Liberal patronage appointee, Gord Schoberg, the chair of Kwantlen’s board of governors.
Not only had Virk and Schoberg schemed about how to give an additional $50,000 to the Kwantlen executive – on top of his $225,000 annual salary – the university also filed misleading financial statements to cover up that misdeed.
“Troubling” and “unacceptable,” said Mike de Jong, British Columbia’s Minister of Finance. Remarkably, however, Premier Clark did nothing – leaving Virk in the Liberal cabinet and Schoberg on Kwantlen’s board.
The pair, of course, was on the board because of their B.C. Liberal connections.
Schoberg was the financial agent in numerous elections for B.C. Liberals, such as Peter Fassbender, Mary Polak and Kevin Falcon. As for Virk, Clark’s BC Liberal Party wanted to raise his public profile before he ran as a B.C. Liberal candidate in May 2013.
The whole affair raises questions about the extent of Liberal patronage at B.C.’s post-secondary institutions – which is more extensive and deep-rooted than one might think.
Alan Shuster, Clark’s 2013 campaign manager in Vancouver-Point Grey, was appointed to the board of governors at the University of British Columbia.
The B.C. Liberals’ fundraising chair, Bob Rennie, is now on the board at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
Ida Chong, the defeated B.C. Liberal MLA from Oak Bay-Gordon Head, was appointed to the board of the University of Victoria, while another ex-Liberal MLA, Patty Sahota of Burnaby-Edmonds, is now on the board at Simon Fraser University.
Other Clark appointments include Donny van Dyck, a defeated B.C. Liberal candidate in 2009 in Skeena, to the board of Northwest Community College, and Kitty Chan, formerly an assistant to ex-B.C. Liberal MLA Patrick Wong of Vancouver-Kensington, to the board at the B.C. Institute of Technology.
Bill Cunningham, an unsuccessful three-time federal Liberal candidate in Burnaby, was appointed to the board at Simon Fraser University.
Rhoda Witherly, who twice lost in Skeena, is on the board of Northwest Community College.
This list is merely the tip of the iceberg.
I believe that B.C. students deserve better.
Government appointments to our universities, colleges and institutes should be on the basis of merit, not political leanings.
Dan Brooks is Leader of the BC Conservative Party.
