B.C. Premier David Eby questioned over comedian’s speech writing contract

The BC Conservatives are calling out the NDP government for hiring one of the premier’s friends with a lucrative contract.

Comedian Charlie Demers is getting paid $165 per hour to help write speeches for the NDP leader.

Demers will earn up to $150,000 for the first two years of the deal and the contract includes an extension option that would boost his compensation up to a total of $450,000.

The Conservatives say this hiring decision is tone deaf in the face of the province’s record deficit.

“It really comes down to decision-making that people are making at the higher levels,” Peter Milobar, the BC Conservative finance critic, told Global News.

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“We have spending, rampant in government, out of control, and the decision-making by the premier in the backdrop of a supposed hiring freeze is to hire a personal friend to write jokes.”

1:57 Premier David Eby’s popularity among British Columbians falls

However, Premier David Eby said that Demers is one of a group of speech writers.

“Today, for example, I’m delivering five speeches,” Eby said.

“I would love to be able to write my own speeches the way that I used to. But I do need support to be able to respond to each event that I go to. Speech writers are a necessary part of the job.”

Demers’ contract was signed in February and Eby said that so far, he has been paid $14,000.