{"id":181263,"date":"2023-09-21T07:39:54","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T11:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=181263"},"modified":"2023-09-21T11:10:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T15:10:46","slug":"parksville-qualicum-mla-adam-walker-blames-premier-for-staff-being-intimidated-after-being-booted-from-ndp-caucus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/parksville-qualicum-mla-adam-walker-blames-premier-for-staff-being-intimidated-after-being-booted-from-ndp-caucus\/","title":{"rendered":"Parksville-Qualicum MLA blames premier for staff being ‘intimidated’ after being booted from NDP caucus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defiant Adam Walker says he will clear his name and \u2018all options are on the table\u2019 including joining another party<\/h2>\n

On Sunday, Premier David Eby announced that Parksville-Qualicum MLA Adam Walker had been removed from the NDP caucus due to \u201cmisconduct\u201d in an unspecified human resources complaint.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference on Monday the premier told reporters that an employee had filed a complaint against Walker in July under the collective agreement that unionized NDP staff have with the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere's no criminal investigation, it is not a criminal matter,\u201d Eby said. \u201cThis is a human resources matter under a collective agreement. It's not related to the interaction<\/a> Mr. Walker had with a deer. This is a concerning and serious issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eby said that caucus led a formal investigation into the complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the conclusions of that investigation, I determined that Mr. Walker couldn't continue,\u201d Eby said.<\/p>\n

In an interview with CHLY, Walker blasted the premier for stating that the complaint was from a member of his staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fear I have is that by the premier releasing information about potentially the individual involved, it's led to news cameras showing up in my office and intimidating my staff,\u201d he said. \u201cIt's so important that when a worker in this province has a concern that when they bring those concerns forward, that that's done in a private way, so that there's no risk for any sort of public backlash of people bringing complaints forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker refused to confirm, or deny, that the complaint was made by someone in his office.<\/p>\n

In a written statement on Monday afternoon, Walker said that he was looking to address the allegations in what he called an \u201cappropriate forum\u201d telling CHLY that he was looking at possible \u201carbitration\u201d and has \u201clegal support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now it's about clearing my name, but also being able to just move forward in a positive way to be able to serve my community. So whatever that process looks like, I'll leave it up to the folks that specialize in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to legislature expense reports<\/a>, Walker was billed $1441.04 by a Kamloops law firm on Jan. 30, 2023 for reviewing \u201cmultiple discipline and grievance and medical documents\u201d, as well as correspondence with the BC General Employees Union and emails regarding medical leave for a person whose name was redacted.<\/p>\n

Walker was also billed $655.20 on February 24 to review correspondences related to a union grievance, emails about possible staff layoffs as well as an investigation and implementation of a workplace impairment policy.<\/p>\n

Walker won\u2019t say if those expenses are related to the complaint in July that Eby referenced, but ruled out paying the money back.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, all the expenses related to my office to serve the community are expenses that go through a process that's approved by the Legislative Assembly and that's not on the table,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Walker said he will continue to serve as an Independent MLA for Parksville-Qualicum and will not resign and run in a byelection for a renewed mandate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don't think the taxpayers want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just to reaffirm what's already here. The people of this community voted for me, it was my name that was on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker said that he intends to serve Parksville Qualicum until the next election scheduled for October 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be up to the voters at the next general election to decide whether I've done a good job or not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Walker also told CHLY that he\u2019s not ruling out joining another party in the legislature, but has not discussed that idea with anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll options are on the table, but the next election is a long time away,\u201d he said. \u201cRight now I just want to keep working for the people in this community and for the next short while that'll be as an independent and whatever best serves the people of this community is what I intend to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

A representative from the BC General Employees Union declined to speak on \u201cprivate matters that may pertain to union members\u201d but said that the union will continue to support members in Walker\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Listen to CHLY's report below:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defiant Adam Walker says he will clear his name and \u2018all options are on the table\u2019 including joining another party On Sunday, Premier David Eby announced that Parksville-Qualicum MLA Adam Walker had been removed from the NDP caucus due to \u201cmisconduct\u201d in an unspecified human resources complaint. Speaking at a press conference on Monday the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":181267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[225],"tags":[30556,30557,643,30142,30143],"radio":[240],"origine":[280,265,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181263"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181323,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181263\/revisions\/181323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181263"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=181263"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=181263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}