Kinsella threatens NDP with lawsuit over BC Rail allegations
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 | 2:59 PM PT
CBC News
Patrick Kinsella, shown in this photograph from 2002, was a key B.C. Liberal organizer in the last two election campaigns. (CBC)Long-time B.C. Liberal campaign organizer Patrick Kinsella is threatening to sue the B.C. NDP for what he calls malicious and reckless comments about his role in the controversial sale of BC Rail.
CBC News has learned Kinsella's lawyer has written NDP leader Carole James, her party and New Democratic candidate Leonard Krog demanding an apology.
On Monday, Krog called for the RCMP to investigate his claims that Kinsella and Canadian National Railway may have broken the law, because the company allegedly made a payment to Kinsella when he was already under contract to BC Rail.
Krog, a lawyer and the Opposition attorney general critic before the legislature was dissolved, said the Criminal Code of Canada makes it an offence for anyone who has dealings with government to make a payment to a government employee unless that employee has the written consent of a senior government official to receive that payment.
"Was Mr. Kinsella working both sides of the track? Was CN providing a benefit to him at the same time he was obviously under contract to BC Rail? Whose interests were being protected here?" Krog said Monday.
Kinsella's lawyer said the comments suggest Kinsella is corrupt and untrustworthy and has a history of illegal conduct and if the NDP does not apologize, he'll be forced to consider further action.
At issue are what role Kinsella — a key B.C. Liberal backroom organizer in the privatization of BC Rail — played in the sale and why his consulting companies received $297,000 from the Crown corporation for undisclosed services between 2002 and 2005, according to documents released by the NDP last month.
The Liberal government sold BC Rail to Canadian National Railway in December 2003, despite campaigning on a promise in the 2001 election to keep it in government hands.
NDP leader refuses to back down
On the campaign trail last week, James demanded new laws to regulate lobbyists, saying she wants to prevent what she called BC Rail-style corruption, and she referred to Kinsella by name.
Attacking Kinsella's role in the BC Rail sale has been a prominent strategy in the NDP campaign leading up to the May 12 provincial election, and in Vancouver on Tuesday, the NDP leader refused to back down from her comments when asked about the possibility of a lawsuit.
"No, I'm not going to apologize. The public interest comes first and the premier's friend can threaten, but these are very serious concerns that have been raised by myself, by the public, by the media," James said.
"There are questions that haven't been answered and I'm going to continue to ask those questions. The public interest comes first," she said.
Meanwhile B.C. Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell insists he's prevented from addressing the issue because the matter is before the courts.
"There is a pretty long established tradition that parliamentarians do not comment when things are before the courts, and I'm going to stick with that," he said.
Campbell said he'll be glad to answer any questions once the BC Rail court case is complete.
