Darryl Plecas
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Darryl Plecas (born in 1951) is a
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
politician, who was a Member of the
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...
for
Abbotsford South Abbotsford South is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, established by the ''Electoral Districts Act, 2008''. It came into effect in the B.C. General Election 2009. History Member of Legislative Assembly On acc ...
from 2013 to 2020, and served as
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The office of Speaker in British Columbia The Speaker is elected by the Members of the Legislative Assembly ("M ...
from 2017 to 2020. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2013 provincial election as a member of the
British Columbia Liberal Party The British Columbia Liberal Party, often shortened to the BC Liberals, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition. Subsequent to the 2020 Br ...
; after 2017 he sat as an independent after the BC Liberal Party revoked his membership for accepting his election as Speaker.


Background

Plecas holds two degrees in Criminology from
Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...
, and a doctorate in Higher Education from the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
. Plecas is a
criminologist Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...
and emeritus faculty member at the
University of the Fraser Valley The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), formerly known as University College of the Fraser Valley and Fraser Valley College, is a Canadian public university with campuses in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission and Hope, British Columbia. Founded ...
, where he worked for 34 years, and helped turn the criminal justice program from a college diploma into a fully credited degree program. During this time, he also served as a federally appointed prison judge.


Political career

Plecas served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General for Crime Reduction from June 10, 2013 to January 29, 2015. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...
for Seniors on January 30, 2015. At a Liberal caucus meeting held in July 2017, shortly after the government of
Christy Clark Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a former Canadian politician who was the 35th premier of British Columbia (BC), from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female ...
lost power following its defeat in a
confidence vote A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
, Plecas called for Clark's resignation as party leader and threatened to quit the Liberal caucus and sit as an Independent MLA if she remained. Later that month, Clark announced her resignation as leader. When Plecas revealed his role in Clark's ouster to ''The Abbotsford News'', NDP house leader
Mike Farnworth Michael C. Farnworth (born July 23, 1959) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 15th and current deputy premier of British Columbia since 2021, and the minister of public safety and solicitor general since 2017. A member of the British C ...
approached Plecas about becoming speaker. Had he accepted, it would have strengthened the hand of the NDP minority government. Clark had unsuccessfully pressed for a new election due to the prospect of an NDP speaker having to frequently use his casting vote to break 43-43 ties. Plecas and Farnworth negotiated in secret for much of July before reaching a deal in late August, with only
Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
John Horgan John Joseph Horgan (born August 7, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 36th premier of British Columbia from 2017 to 2022, and also as the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party from 2014 to 2022. Horgan has been the ...
and a few senior staffers aware of their talks. On September 8, 2017, he was acclaimed as Speaker. On the following day, the Liberals expelled Plecas upon the request of the Abbotsford South BC Liberal riding association, and Plecas served out his term as an independent. Plecas later told ''
The Province ''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they are British Columbia's only ...
'' that he initially had no desire to be speaker, but changed his mind after concluding that there was no basis for Liberal claims that an NDP minority government supported by the Greens would be illegitimate. He said that with his earlier experience as a prison judge, he had the ability to be "impartial in difficult circumstances."


Legislative Assembly corruption scandal

In the year after being appointed Speaker, Plecas grew suspicious of the conduct of two Permanent Officers of the B.C. Legislative Assembly:
Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...
Craig James and
Sergeant-at-Arms A serjeant-at-arms, or sergeant-at-arms, is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin ''serviens'', which means "servant". Historically, s ...
Gary Lenz. He brought the matter before the Legislative Assembly Management Committee (LAMC), who urged the Speaker to publicize the corruption claims. The alleged crimes were reported to the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
prior to the report's publication. A criminal investigation was launched by the RCMP. The preliminary report on the issue was published on January 21, 2019. The Plecas Report cited expenses "in the range of a million dollars" to the Legislative Assembly for personal use, in the period of 20 months between April 2017 and December 2018. James and Lenz charged the legislature for a variety of luxury goods and inappropriate travel costs. They were also accused of questionably awarding themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in employment benefits (e.g. retirement allowances and life insurance). Plecas raised concern about employer malpractice by James and Lenz, and attempts to conceal information related to their high expenditures. James in particular was noted for the theft of alcohol, and the contents of departing Premier
Christy Clark Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a former Canadian politician who was the 35th premier of British Columbia (BC), from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female ...
's parliamentary vault. James and Lenz denied the allegations of the report, and both submitted a written defense to the LAMC. James retired in May 2019, after an external administrative report conducted by former Supreme Court Justice Beverly McLachlin determined his actions amounted to professional misconduct in several areas. Though the same report did not substantiate claims of misconduct by Lenz, a subsequent external investigation found he had lied during the McLachlin investigation, and that he had further neglected his duties as outlined by the Police Act. Shown a copy of the report days before its public release, Lenz resigned.


Electoral record


2017 election


2013 election


References


External links


Darryl Plecas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plecas, Darryl British Columbia Liberal Party MLAs Living people Canadian criminologists People from Abbotsford, British Columbia Simon Fraser University alumni Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia University of British Columbia alumni Year of birth uncertain 21st-century Canadian politicians Independent MLAs in British Columbia 1950s births Academic staff of the University of the Fraser Valley