The provincial New Democrats have accused Liberal MLAs of exploiting child safety for political gain after some Liberal legislators were given child booster seats to distribute from their offices, but New Democratic MLAs were not.

'A wagonload of booster seats accompanied Minister Reid when she visited Richmond Nature House in June,' reads the caption for this photo in the minister's Reid Report newsletter.

This summer, the government paid for 2,000 child booster seats to be given free to low-income families around the province.

New Democratic MLA Claire Trevena says she and her colleagues weren't even told about the program.

"The only MLAs who got these seats for distribution were Liberal MLAs," Trevena said during question period in the legislature on Tuesday. "My question to the minister is, how does she justify using child safety for political ends?" 

A photo from the website of North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Katherine Whittred shows her distributing a free child booster seat to Shauna Mokelki, of John Braithwaite Community Centre's family centre.

As evidence, Trevena presented several photos of smiling Liberal MLAs giving child booster seats to low income families.
 
The minister for child care, Linda Reid, said there was nothing partisan about the program — the government simply struck a partnership with the BC Automobile Association.

"I can tell you 2,000 booster seats have indeed reached their way across British Columbia," Reid responded.
 
Outside the chamber, Reid told reporters that even though Liberal MLAs distributed the car seats, they went to all areas of the province, including NDP ridings.
 

A photo from the website of the minister of state for child care, Linda Reid, shows her giving away one of 2,000 free booster seats that only Liberal MLAs had access to.

"My interest was ensuring they want to families across British Columbia," Reid said.

But ministry officials acknowledged that only Liberal MLAs were given the chance to distribute the booster seats and to get their pictures taken for local papers, though they insist it wasn't meant to be political.

They said only Liberal MLAs were chosen to give away the seats because the Liberal MLAs had storage space in their constituency offices.