NDP leader says going to RCMP about Liberal allegations not about sour grapes

VANCOUVER – British Columbia's NDP leader says his decision to contact the RCMP with new information about the Liberal government's ethnic vote scandal has nothing to do with losing the election.

Adrian Dix says the loss in May was disappointing, but the information his party obtained afterwards was so serious that it had to be forwarded to police.

Dix says he wrote a letter to the RCMP outlining the new information related to the Liberal government's misuse of resources for so-called quick wins.

One misuse involved the payment of $6,800 to a community contractor for work approved by the multiculturalism minister without a signed contract and another concerned a government aide who was employed by the government caucus and but doing work for the Liberal party.

The Liberal party later reimbursed the government $70,000 as part of Brian Bonney's salary amid allegations that a former Liberal worker was offered a job to keep quiet about the ethnic vote strategy.

A special prosecutor has been appointed while the RCMP conducts its investigation, and Elections BC spokesman Don Main says the Mounties contacted chief electoral officer Keith Archer last month about a complaint related to the Elections Act.