Kelowna West MLA Ben Stewart cleared of Elections Act allegations
Credit to Author: Rob Shaw| Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2019 19:46:12 +0000
VICTORIA – Elections B.C. has cleared Kelowna West MLA Ben Stewart of any wrongdoing involving donation allegations in his office.
The independent elections agency spent two months investigating allegations a constituency assistant was forced to donate approximately $1,225 on Stewart’s behalf before, eventually, the money was reimbursed.
“The review found that no provisions of the Election Act were violated,” Elections B.C. said in a statement Tuesday.
“MLA Stewart wrote chief electoral officer Anton Boegman on Aug. 1, 2019, to advise him of the issue. It involved a political contribution to the B.C. Liberal Party that was reimbursed to the contributor by the party. The review found no evidence that the political contribution and reimbursement were made in contravention of the Election Act.”
Stewart wrote Elections B.C. himself to ask for the review out of what he’d called an abundance of caution. He also stepped out of the B.C. Liberal caucus while the review was ongoing.
“I feel the way I did when I wrote them, I felt there wasn’t any problem but thought we’d better ask and make certain there was no issues with the Election Act,” Stewart said Tuesday.
“I know it’s been quite awhile, it’s been two months since I sent them a letter. I thought with the information it would take a little bit less time.”
Elections B.C. would not elaborate on its investigation. The agency said it considers the matter closed.
“We are happy to welcome Ben back to the BC Liberal Caucus and we thank him for taking the appropriate actions to ensure full cooperation with Elections BC,” said Opposition Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson.
The legislature returns next week for the start of the fall session.