VANCOUVER – The man whose inquiry findings led former British Columbia premier Bill Vander Zalm to resign in 1991 says he threatened to quit before completing his task.
Ted Hughes, a former conflict of interest commissioner, is suing Vander Zalm for defamation over passages in the former premier’s 2008 book “Bill Vander Zalm: For the People.”
Hughes told B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday that in 1991, Vander Zalm asked him to conduct an inquiry into the sale of his Fantasy Garden World theme park to a Taiwanese billionaire a year earlier.
At the time, Vander Zalm was under fire from the Opposition New Democrats for using his public office to run his private business affairs.
In the midst of the inquiry, which began in February 1991, Hughes said he received a letter from Vander Zalm’s lawyer, who wanted transcripts of interviews and suggested the inquiry process was unfair.
“I wanted out if someone suggested I was denying rights to Mr. Vander Zalm,” Hughes said, adding the terms of the inquiry had been discussed beforehand.
Hughes said he didn’t believe an explanation from Vander Zalm and his wife about $ 20,000 the premier had accepted from the man who bought Fantasy Gardens or from Faye Leung, the woman who brokered the deal.
“I was unconvinced by either, and I’d said in my report that if I was going to accept the premier’s explanation as to what the $ 20,000 was for then he was going to have to convince me that he was right.”
In his final report, issued April 2, 1991, Hughes found Vander Zalm breached conflict-of-interest guidelines, forcing the premier to resign that day.
Frank Potts, Vander Zalm’s lawyer, suggested the process used to conduct the inquiry was biased from the start.
“It appears what you’ve got is a closed-door hearing, you’ve got no right to cross-examine, no right to face your accuser, no right to see what their evidence is, no right to appeal.”
“Yes, I think those steps are correct,” Hughes said. “But that’s what Mr. Vander Zalm asked me to do.”
Potts said Vander Zalm wasn’t likely to have him stop his inquiry when the Fantasy Garden issue was so high profile that “the House is an uproar and the NDP are feasting on this on a daily basis.”
“Did you think in those circumstances that Mr. Vander Zalm could agree to have you quit?” he said. “Did you see that as a viable alternative for him?” Potts asked.
“Yes,” Hughes said.
Potts suggested Vander Zalm would be forced to step down if Hughes found the premier had breached conflict-of-interest guidelines.
Hughes said he understood there would be political pressure on the premier to resign, but that wasn’t his responsibility.
“My responsibility was to write the report with the facts that I had and do the job that he asked me to do on the afternoon of Feb. 14, 1990.”
Vander Zalm, who was premier from 1986 to 1991, stepped back into the political spotlight in 2010 when he led a successful campaign against the HST.
Hughes said Monday that he was shocked by the attacks against his character in Vander Zalm’s book, which suggested he conspired with the NDP to bring down the premier to fast-track his career.
Hughes said he’d decided not to pursue legal action against Vander Zalm, but when he saw the book being promoted on TV in 2010 he wanted to clear his good name.
The civil trial will also hear from former NDP premier Mike Harcourt, who succeeded Vander Zalm.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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