Premier Christy Clark will no longer take $50,000 stipend from party

Jan 22 2017, 1:08 am

BC Premier Christy Clark says she will no longer accept an annual $50,000 stipend from her political party.

The decision was announced yesterday following the media event on the renaming of Mount Seymour’s ‘Second Pump Peak’ to ‘Tim Jones Peak’ in honour of the late North Shore Rescue volunteer.

Instead of a large stipend, which is in addition to her public salary of $195,000, the BC Liberals will instead reimburse her expenses on a piecemeal basis.

“It’s always been [a] standard part of the process in British Columbia, but because it’s become a real distraction, what I’ve asked the party to do instead is [to] let’s get rid of it, and then let’s do what I think all party leaders should do,” she said. “I would encourage the NDP to do this as well.”

The new policy from Clark and her party is in reaction to a New York Times article published last week that put the international spotlight on BC’s archaic rules for political donations, including the lack of limits and the ability for unions and corporations to contribution.

The article in the paper called the province the “Wild West” of political cash in Canada.

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