De Jong, Eby take the gloves off
Liberal MLA disputes allegations he ignored Hastings improprieties
Liberal MLA Mike de Jong is accusing Attorney General David Eby of misleading the public by saying he raised concerns about impropriety in horse racing while still in opposition, but no action was taken by the then Liberal government.
Eby said on Aug. 27 that he raised his concerns in 2016 with de Jong, who was then the minister responsible.
But de Jong said Thursday the allegations Eby brought to his office were about drug use at Fraser Downs race course, not the recent revelations of fake credentials being sold to foreign workers at Hasting Racecourse.
De Jong said he ordered an investigation into the drug allegations by former auditor general George Morfitt.
“It strikes me that he deliberately wanted to convey to the media and the public that this was a specific allegation that he had brought to the attention of the previous government, and it’s just not true,” de Jong said of Eby.
But Eby stood his ground later on Thursday, arguing de Jong downplayed problems found by Morfitt.
De Jong said he was “surprised and perplexed” by Eby’s Aug. 27 statements after learning about them on his recent return to Canada from vacation. Eby, he said, is “more interested in scoring political points.”
In a letter to Eby after Morfitt wrapped up his probe, de Jong said Morfitt made recommendations about operational policies that were accepted and being implemented by horse racing unit officials.
Eby said de Jong ’s letter said the government’s horse racing unit “applies the horse racing industry best practices,” which led Eby to believe Morfitt didn’t find serious problems.
Eby said he now knows that Morfitt raised “serious concerns” about access and security of the backstretch areas, where horses are boarded and cared for, at both Hastings and Fraser Downs.
Eby released the Morfitt report on Thursday, noting the concerns and report were never made public by the Liberals.
Morfitt recommended security be reviewed and that “access to the back stretch by unlicensed persons, especially on non-race days, appears to be a matter that requires attention.”
The report doesn’t mention potential concerns related to immigration papers or employing improperly documented people, but Eby argued Morfitt’s concerns should have been a red flag.
“I think if minister de Jong had (taken) a look at it, he would have been more likely to find what we did when we looked at security on the backstretch,” Eby said, “which was allegations of corruption of a provincial employee and very serious allegations about exploitation and undocumented workers.”
Eby said that, after he became attorney general, his office received another tip from a whistleblower about security concerns on the backstretch at Hastings.
He passed the information on to his department’s gaming policy enforcement branch, which discovered possible impropriety related to work permits and called in the Canada Border Service Agency.
The CBSA detained 26 Mexican backstretch workers at Hastings on Aug. 19, mostly grooms employed by individual trainers, for not showing the proper work permits.
Meanwhile, a gaming branch inspector has been accused of falsifying information on some applications for the provincial licences needed to work at the track.
The inspector is on paid leave while the matter is being investigated.
De Jong said he’ll be asking Eby for a retraction for implying his government knew about the immigration issues, but did nothing about it.
Eby deflected a question about whether or not he would apologize, countering that de Jong released information selectively about the Morfitt investigation’s findings.
“This report was not ever published or released or talked about by minister de Jong,” Eby said. “In fact, when he wrote to me, he said it was looked at and best practices were being followed and I’m confident everything is great, which is exactly what he said about money laundering.”
De Jong said Eby’s statements are a partisan attack and a typical tactic of the attorney general.
“When confronted by an issue, the government is obliged to deal with, he points fingers instead of doing his job, which, in this case, is to conduct whatever prosecutorial responsibility might flow from the investigation.”
Eby said the investigation remains in the hands of the CBSA.