Premier C lark Shifts Amrik Virk To Technology And Other “Made Up” Services But NDP Wants Him Fired!
The LINK recently ran a story stating that scandal plagued BC Liberal Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk dug a deeper hole for himself after the NDP revealed emails that showed Virk knew a lot more about the executive compensation to Kwantlen Polytechnic University executive and deliberately tried to conceal damaging evidence while in cabinet. The Opposition NDP had asked that Virk be kicked out of cabinet and still wants him fired. But Premier Christy Clark decided this week that Virk was probably too hot button for the Education Ministry and moved him to safer shores.
By R. Paul Dhillon
VICTORIA – In year-end minor cabinet changes, Premier Christy Clark booted scandal-plagued former cop Amrik Virk from his current Advance Education Ministry and put him into a new ministry of Technology and other “made up” Services.
Clark’s office announced Thursday in a press release that effective immediately, Andrew Wilkinson will serve as Minister of Advanced Education and Amrik Virk will serve as Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services.
“We are committed to growing the economy and ensuring British Columbians are first in line for job opportunities,” said Premier Clark. “These changes allow us to make the decisions necessary for a thriving province.”
But the Opposition NDP had asked that Virk be kicked out of cabinet and still wants him fired.
“Minister Amrik Virk broke executive compensation rules while on the board at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, then he went to extraordinary lengths to hide his actions from the public. But rather than removing him from cabinet, the B.C. Liberals are once again protecting their friends, shuffling him to another portfolio,” said New Democrat advanced education spokesperson Kathy Corrigan.
“Minister Virk treated the public and the legislature with disdain during his time on this file, and now the premier is rewarding him with a new cabinet post.”
Corrigan also noted that Minister Virk has shown himself to be uniquely unqualified for his new role.
“It is unfathomable that a minister who has hidden information from the public should be selected over all other government MLAs to be the minister in charge of Freedom of Information; and that the same minister, who blamed his problems accessing email for his inability to hand over relevant evidence in the KPU compensation investigation, should be our new minister of technology,” said Corrigan.
In light of the confirmation today from Rob Mingay, the assistant deputy minister charged with investigating executive payments at KPU, that Minister Virk was actively involved in compensation rule-breaking, the premier should have acted immediately to relieve Minister Virk of his cabinet post.
“Minister Virk should have done the honourable thing months ago and stepped down. Failing that, the premier had a duty to the public to step in and fire him. Instead, the B.C. Liberals protected their friends, and put the people of this province last.”
The LINK recently ran a story stating that scandal plagued BC Liberal Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk dug a deeper hole for himself after the NDP revealed emails that showed Virk knew a lot more about the executive compensation to Kwantlen Polytechnic University executive and deliberately tried to conceal damaging evidence while in cabinet.
“Minister Virk was part of a plan to break government compensation and disclosure rules, and then he withheld this key evidence from a government investigation while sitting in cabinet as the minister responsible for enforcing those rules,” said New Democrat leader John Horgan.
Asked at the time if he should remain in cabinet, with authority over post-secondary institutions, Virk said that is up to Premier Clark, who decided this week that he was probably too hot button for the Education Ministry and moved him to safer shores.
The New Democrats recently released emails showing Virk deliberately breaking executive compensation rules and withholding evidence from a government probe ordered by Finance Minister Mike De Jong.
When questioned, the Minister was unable to explain why this information was withheld.
“Minister Virk was part of a plan to break government compensation and disclosure rules, and then he withheld this key evidence from a government investigation while sitting in cabinet as the minister responsible for enforcing those rules,” said New Democrat leader John Horgan.
The emails from April 2011 show that Virk approved a scheme to break executive compensation limits for a Kwantlen Polytechnic University executive, former Vice President Anne Lavak. This is not reflected in the government’ s internal review into the conduct of Minister Virk, which cleared Virk of having any knowledge of Ms. Lavak’s compensation exceeding government rules on executive pay.
“These emails impugn the credibility of the government’s review into their cabinet minister,” said Horgan. “It also raises questions of what other evidence has gone unexamined in relation to this minister’s role in Kwantlen rule-breaking and disclosure.
“These revelations underscore the need for an independent investigation by the Auditor General’s office.”
Following the disclosure of the emails, Opposition MLAs renewed their call Virk to be removed from cabinet.
Virk was on the Kwantlen Polytechnic University board of governors in April 2011, when an offer was made to then-University of Regina dean of business Ann Lavack for the position of vice-president academic (VPA) for Kwantlen.
Emails released by the NDP Monday show Virk, then an inspector with the Langley RCMP and a volunteer Kwantlen board member, participating in discussion to get around the B.C. salary guidelines for the job.
Horgan said at the time that the emails were provided from a “whistleblower” at Kwantlen, who found printouts in a binder. Horgan said they contradict an internal investigation by an assistant deputy minister that determined board members were not involved in decisions to pay executives more than provincial rules allowed.
The Kwantlen VPA salary was capped at $170,000, less than what Lavack was making in Regina. The emails discuss adding $100,000 for moving expenses and a $20,000 “research allowance.”
Virk confirmed that he wrote in an April 2011 email from his RCMP account: “Given the low pay level of a VPA at Kwantlen and the difficulty in drawing candidates within the current pay scale, the research leave is one way to ‘top’ off the pay level.”
Virk claims he had forgotten the email exchange, and it will be forwarded to Rob Mingay, the government official who conducted the investigation.
“Mr. Virk has demonstrated bad judgment not once, not twice, but three times and it’s probably time for him to get out of cabinet,” said Horgan.
Aside from dropping Virk from the Education portfolio, Clark also made the following changes to Parliamentary Secretaries:
* MLA Jane Thornthwaite for Child Mental Health and Anti-Bullying
for the Minister of Children and Family Development, Stephanie
Cadieux.
* MLA Dan Ashton for the Minister of Finance, Michael de Jong.
* MLA Mike Bernier for Energy Literacy and the Environment for
Minister of Environment, Mary Polak.
