On Teresa Wat's pension eligibility and the privacy rights of Richmond residents
Should B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael Harvey launch an investigation after a reporter tweeted some concerns from the BC United caucus?
When Teresa Wat became the fourth former member of the BC United caucus to join the John Rustad-led B.C. Conservatives, it stood out for a couple of reasons.
Unlike the other three—Bruce Banman, Lorne Doerkson, and Elenore Sturko—Wat had already qualified for an MLA pension.
The veteran Richmond politician was first elected in 2013. So, she had long surpassed the six-year mark for MLA pension eligibility when when she made her announcement on July 29. Wat is also over the age of 65, so she would have qualified for a full pension without penalty had she not sought re-election.
Instead, Wat chose to join a party that was supported and nurtured by opponents of mRNA vaccines. These activists aimed to supplant another free-enterprise party, BC United, that is solidly in favour of mRNA vaccines to reduce the severity of COVID-19 infections.
The maximum MLA pension is 70 percent of the member’s highest three-year average annual pensionable earnings. In her fourth year in cabinet, Wat was paid about $154,000. Therefore, it’s safe to assume Wat qualifies for a six-figure annual pension.
She didn’t need the money when she chose to abandon her former caucus colleagues, which helped lead to the demise of the B.C. United campaign.
Also, in the wake of Wat’s July 29 announcement, Global News BC reporter Richard Zussman tweeted an astonishing allegation from her former caucus.
“BC United is claiming Teresa Wat’s team downloaded a significant amount of confidential member information prior to her decision to leave,” Zussman stated.
This was also reported by other media outlets.
Commissioner should investigate BC United claim
I’m running as an independent candidate against Wat in Richmond-Bridgeport. I do not know if the BC United allegation has any validity. It could be false.
However, after reading books by journalists Susan Delacourt and Sasha Issenberg, I am well aware that political parties gather reams of information about individual voters.
As a result, I am calling on the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner to conduct an investigation. I want Commissioner Michael Harvey to determine if Wat or her staff engaged in any unauthorized downloading or sharing of personal information collected by BC United about individuals or businesses in Richmond-Bridgeport.
When Wat announced that she had joined the B.C. Conservatives, she declared that she had been contemplating doing this for months. Therefore, I urge that Commissioner Harvey investigate over a period of several months prior to Wat’s July 29 announcement.
Furthermore, I would like the Office of the Information and Commissioner to go further than focusing on the privacy of residents and business owners in Richmond-Bridgeport. Given the revelations in Delacourt’s Shopping for Votes and Issenberg’s The Victory Lab, I also call upon Commissioner Harvey to examine the data-mining and data-sharing practices of all provincial political parties with MLAs in the legislature.
The commissioner must determine whether they’re acting in accordance with provincial laws, I would also like him to evaluate what systems these parties have in place to prevent unauthorized disclosures when MLAs cross the floor to join other parties or sit as independents.
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Thanks for reading this. Regardless of whether you support my candidacy in Richmond-Bridgeport, I hope you’ll look at the platforms of all the independent candidates in Richmond before casting your ballot.