Christy Clark says she ‘jumped to conclusions’ after accusing NDP of hacking

Premier Christy Clark says she jumped to conclusions when blaming the BC NDP for hacking the Liberals’ website – a criminal act – but she’s not apologizing for the accusations.

Clark spoke to Kamloops radio on Thursday about her earlier claims that the NDP hacked into her party’s website to gain access to their Vancouver Island election platform. While there was no proof the NDP was responsible for the hack, she says the IP address came from the B.C. Legislature building.

“I was really mad about that… when I found out that it had actually come from the legislature, because that is the last place – you know, the house of our democratic assembly – where somebody should be wanting to subvert the democratic process,” Clark told CHNL Radio.

“I did draw a quick conclusion, I think, that many others would, based on the circumstances. But you know, you’re right if you think that I shouldn’t have jumped to those conclusions so quickly.”

NDP leader John Horgan says her reaction showed flaws in her decision-making process.

“You’d like to think that the leader of your government is going to make decisions in a calm, rational way, based on facts,” Horgan told media on Thursday.

There have also been theories that the hacking allegations were used as a political smokescreen to switch the media’s focus away from the B.C. acting children’s watchdog report on the death of Alex Gervais.

“I think it’s American-style lies that she’s intentionally ‘Trumped up’ and she’s using it to try and knock the Alex Gervais story off the front page,” Peter Lang, the father of a child who died while under the care of the Ministry of Children and Family Development, told CKNW.

BC Liberals’ communications director Emile Scheffel tweeted about the alleged hacking on Monday, calling them “dirty tricks by our opponents.”

–With files from Matt Lee (CKNW)