BC NDP leader John Horgan says better late than never. Horgan says while Premier Christy Clark has finally decided to give up her $50-thousand stipend from her party, it took high profile negative attention to force her to do the right thing.
The New York Times recently criticized Clark for taking the money which mostly comes from political contributions. Speaking with CFAX news John Horgan says the embarrassment got so great the premier could no longer keep taking the extra pay cheque.
"And you know we released information this past week showing that 185 donors made up $6 million of the money the Liberals have raised. And I think the obvious conflict of having $50-thousand a year passed on to you by the richest people in British Columbia is something that's offensive to most British Columbians and I think the premier couldn't avoid the bad news any longer so late on a Friday night she announced she wasn't going to take it anymore."
Horgan estimates the stipend brought Clark an extra $300-thousand over the past 6 years.
" But when you think of it over a 6 year period the wealthiest people in British Columbia in essence gave the premier of BCD $300,000 bucks and one thinks they're probably going to get something back for that. I think we need to put people back at the centre of our politics and you don't do that when the richest people in the province are giving the leader of the government $300,000 bucks to do her job."