B.C. speaker defends $13,000 road trip.

Critics question whether journey was necessary

The controversial speaker of the B.C. legislature who lobbed explosive allegations this past year about wasteful spending in Victoria sent his chief of staff on a cross-continent fact-finding road trip this summer that, by his own acknowledgment, went over budget.

Earlier this summer, Darryl Plecas told the National Post that Alan Mullen’s road trip to several Canadian provinces and American states was budgeted for $10,000. But this week, Plecas and Mullen confirmed that the total costs came in at just over $13,000.

But Plecas insisted the trip — whose purpose was to review legislature security practices — was carried out with taxpayers in mind and would’ve cost far more if Mullen had flown or if they had hired an outside agency to do the work.

“It’s a bargain at half the price,” he said. “It’s still not as though the whole thing leaves us in a budget crisis.”

But Jas Johal, a B.C. Liberal opposition member, questioned whether the trip — he called it Mullen’s “excellent summer adventure” — was even necessary, saying that Mullen could easily have gathered the same information by consulting inhouse experts and experts in other jurisdictions without leaving Victoria.

“I still don’t know why the speaker’s friend has to jump in a car (and travel) across Western Canada and the States to acquire information that is rather rudimentary,” he said.

Johal also questioned Mullen’s qualifications for carrying out the fact-finding mission.

“We do not know what security expertise he actually has … I don’t think B.C. taxpayers are getting value for dollar,” Johal said.

Mullen had previously worked as a federal corrections administrator before he was hired in early 2018 as Plecas’s special adviser and then chief of staff.

Plecas turned the legislature upside down this past year after accusing the legislature’s top two unelected officials — Craig James, the clerk, and Gary Lenz, the sergeant-at-arms — of, among other things, “flagrant overspending” on travel and other inappropriate expenses.

James later resigned after a report from retired Supreme Court of Canada chief justice Beverley McLachlin agreed with some of Plecas’s allegations. She did not find any wrongdoing by Lenz.

Lenz, however, remains suspended with pay amid an ongoing RCMP investigation that is being overseen by two special prosecutors. A few months ago, Plecas initiated a new investigation into whether Lenz may have violated the B.C. Police Act. Doug LePard, a retired police chief, was tapped to do the work.

Lenz and James have previously denied any wrongdoing. Their lawyers declined to comment about the ongoing investigations.

Meanwhile, Mullen spent several weeks this summer visiting several provincial legislature and U.S. state capitol buildings. Mullen said he made stops in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

According to Plecas and Mullen, the purpose of the trip was to study best practices when it comes to security. In some jurisdictions in Canada, the role of sergeantat-arms is purely ceremonial with a separate director of security, whereas in others, it’s a hybrid role, Mullen said.

Another goal of the trip was to examine how to run operations efficiently. They cited a June 2019 expense analysis report that showed overtime pay in 2018/19 among the B.C. legislature’s protective services staff exceeded a half-million dollars.

To those critics who are complaining about a $13,000 road trip, “Where were they when we were burning off all this overtime?” Plecas said.

The trip, he added, was done in consultation with the B.C. legislature’s acting clerk and head of finance. Because Mullen drove his own vehicle, the only expenses he incurred were for gas, hotels and daily per diems.

“Where we felt we could save money would be if I drove,” Mullen told the Post in mid-July when he was halfway through his trip. “We’re not paying for plane tickets all over North America and rental cars.”

Asked why he needed to physically visit all these places, Mullen said it was because “you don’t really get a full feeling for it if you get an email … or if it’s over the phone. You have a better opportunity to paint a picture when you’ve gone there yourself, you’ve taken pictures. I can communicate it better in my report.”

Mullen added that the Americans were “thrilled to have us there.”

Asked earlier this summer about the optics of going on a long trip after making allegations of wasteful spending, Plecas told the Post he knew there’d be pushback from critics but insisted, “You’re not getting a fulsome picture by just saying, ‘Send me your information.’”

He reiterated that again on Wednesday.

“The acid test will be what’s in the report,” he said, which is expected mid-September. “Wait for the report.”

Plecas said since the scandal erupted in the B.C. legislature, critics have been continuously looking for ways to malign him and Mullen. “At every turn, it’s been twisted to say, ‘What did the speaker do now?’ … ‘What did the chief of staff do?’” he said.

Over the summer, Plecas said, some critics questioned whether anyone had accompanied Mullen on his trip. Asked by the Post if anyone had, Plecas said he didn’t know and that it was irrelevant, as spouses are invited on trips all the time.

Mullen did not respond to a voice mail seeking clarity on the question.

Johal agreed that it would only be relevant if it affected taxpayers.

MARK YUEN / POSTMEDIA NEWS FILES Speaker of the British Columbia legislature Darryl Plecas insists a controversial trip — whose purpose was to review legislature security practices — was carried out with taxpayers in mind and would’ve cost more if his chief of staff had flown or if they had hired an outside agency to do the work.