A sentencing hearing is underway for the former communications director of the B.C. Liberal Party, convicted in the so-called “quick wins” scandal.
Brian Bonney pleaded guilty to one count of breach of trust last October in the Christy Clark-era scandal, which saw the party plan to use government resources to drum up ethnic votes ahead of the 2013 provincial election.
His lawyer is asking for a discharge, considering the rare circumstances surrounding the case.
Crown is asking for a 12 to 23 month conditional sentence, which would see Bonney placed under house arrest.
Special prosecutor David Butcher says Bonney wasn’t the architect of the plan, but added he does have political knowledge and wasn’t naive.
The scandal broke in the months leading up to the 2013 election that Clark’s Liberals eventually won.
A leaked memo at the time referenced a number of “quick win” strategies the party could use, including apologizing for historical wrongs, to woo ethnic voters in a 2012 Port Moody byelection.
In August 2013, provincial privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham said she had not found any evidence that the B.C. Liberals and provincial government had shared personal information as had been contemplated in the “Multicultural Strategic Ethnic Outreach Plan.”
Bonney was charged under the B.C. Elections Act in 2014. His sentencing hearing is expected to conclude tomorrow.
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