Former Liberal government staffer engaged in partisan politics in Quick Wins scandal: Crown

Published on: January 16, 2018

Brian Bonney, who was employed as a communications director for the government and at the same time had close ties to the B.C. Liberal party, in October pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust. 

A former Liberal government employee used his public job to engage in partisan political activities [ eg: collusion with Chinese Canadians to procure their votes] in connection with the so-called Quick Wins scandal, a judge was told Tuesday.

Brian Bonney, who was employed as a communications director for the government and at the same time had close ties to the B.C. Liberal party, in October pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust.

RCMP launched an investigation following a complaint by the NDP in 2013 that Liberal government resources had been used inappropriately to reach out to ethnic communities for support in the election. Part of the scheme included devising historical apologies to specific ethnic groups as “quick wins” to garner goodwill for the Liberals.

In sentencing submissions Tuesday, special prosecutor David Butcher said that while Bonney was receiving directions from others and was not the mastermind of the scheme, he nonetheless played an essential role and was a “very experienced political operative.”

Bonney, who was a regional director of the B.C. Liberal party and on the party’s executive at the time, used his paid time as a public servant for improper purposes, including directing the work of “community liaison workers” to target ethnic communities to get votes for the Liberals, Butcher told B.C. provincial court Judge David St. Pierre in Vancouver.

“In all of these activities, he was sharing confidential government information with people not authorized to receive it,” said Butcher. “And all of these activities were undertaken with the goal of targeting ethnic groups for the purpose of garnering their support for the then-premier Christy Clark and the B.C. Liberal party.”

After hearing those submissions, the judge asked Ian Donaldson, a lawyer for Bonney, whether he agreed with Butcher’s description of the crime committed by his client.

Donaldson said that some of the communications and actions of Bonney implemented a strategy conceived by others to get others to be involved in the electoral process in a proper fashion and in some of the communications in a partisan fashion.

“That’s the essence of what I’m conceding. As a public servant, he ought not to have authored communications or taken part in any actions which had a partisan tinge to it, that is to say not in the public interest.”

Donaldson added that what had happened was a breach of his client’s employment terms without “pecuniary” benefit or corruption.

Butcher said he was seeking a conditional sentence of 12 to 23 months incarceration to be served in the community, including house arrest conditions.

Donaldson told the judge that he should consider a discharge for Bonney but that if he agreed incarceration was warranted, the conditional sentence should be served in the community for a “modest” duration. 

Butcher said he was not suggesting that Bonney did not carry out his public duties but that he was attempting to juggle that work with the partisan political work and was doing the partisan work on a daily basis.

One of the community liaison workers who was hired and directed by Bonney to contact ethnic groups was paid $2,000 a month, which was paid for by a numbered company controlled by Bonney, said Butcher. The numbered company was in turn reimbursed by the B.C. Liberal party, he added.

The liaison workers were directed to reach out to ethnic organizations and find out if they were Liberal supporters, to write partisan op-ed pieces in newspapers and to contact ethnic radio shows.

In one email, Bonney told a worker that there were 16 months to “capture the hearts and minds of Chinese Canadians” and deliver their votes.

“Be pushy and persistent, but likable and friendly,” he says in the email.

The accused did all his activities while a government employee and “had this been purely a (Liberal) party activity,” there wouldn’t have been a criminal prosecution, said the prosecutor.

Two former Liberal cabinet ministers whose names featured prominently during the sentencing proceeding were Harry Bloy and John Yap, who were at different times the minister for multiculturalism.

Butcher quoted from email communications between Yap and Bonney.

NDP MLA Ravi Kahlon, who was in court for the sentencing hearing, said outside court that the case gave a glimpse into how the B.C. Liberal party operated with government resources to woo ethnic voters.

He said some of the details had come out previously but added that the fact that there were “so many players” involved was disturbing to him.

Donaldson is expected to begin his full sentencing submissions Wednesday.