Maligned B.C. legislative committee holds first public meeting

VICTORIA – British Columbia’s much-maligned political committee in charge of managing expense accounts for politicians and legislature finances met publicly today for the first time.

The meeting comes after a scathing report by Auditor General John Doyle earlier this summer that found such a mess in the legislature’s books that it couldn’t conclude if money was being spent or misspent.

During its first public meeting, the all-party Legislative Assembly Management Committee agreed to fine-tune a governance structure that makes it easy for British Columbians to examine the legislature’s finances, including expense accounts for politicians.

The committee also decided to review a $500,000 consultant’s package given to retired former legislative clerk George MacMinn, who served at the legislature for more than 50 years.

MacMinn, who’s in his 80s, was handed the deal as part of his retirement package this spring.

New Democrat committee member John Horgan says when people retire they usually receive a gold watch, not a two-year consulting package worth half-a-million dollars.