The B.C. NDP is continuing to press the government for answers on fresh developments in the ethnic outreach scandal, an evolving storyline that took a new turn Tuesday when the identity of the mystery woman at the centre of the latest controversy was revealed.
Sepideh Sarrafpour, a former government liaison contractor and one-time honorary liaison to former multiculturalism minster Harry Bloy, confirmed to The Province that she was the person referenced in a government email the subject of heated debate this week.
"Yeah, it is me," Sarrafpour told The Province Tuesday. "They were talking about me."
The 10-page email in question was written September 2012 by Brian Bonney, a former director of communications, that was buried within the thousands of pages of documents released as part of John Dyble's probe into the ethnic scandal.
Within the heavily redacted email is a series of proposals on how to deal with an unnamed government worker who purportedly had information that was "damaging" to Premier Christy Clark and the Liberal Party. It also suggested some kind of payoff was on the table.
"Have Harry Bloy meet with her and explain how doing anything would damage the premier and the party," one point of the Sept. 18, 2012, email reads. "Have him say how he will try to find her work and get her back involved."
"If need be, offer x dollars per month to do non-public work up to election (developing her database of potential supporters)," another portion of the email reads.
Premier Christy Clark, however, said Tuesday that none of the points discussed in the email had been acted on, although she did acknowledge that the language used in the email was "totally inappropriate."
"There was no evidence that it was ever acted on, otherwise you would have seen different recommendations, I'm sure, from the Dyble committee," Clark told reporters in Victoria. "If there had been anything in that document that had been acted upon, anything that is inappropriate as the opposition suggests, you would have certainly seen that reflected in the report."
Sarrafpour would not elaborate on what information she had that would be damaging to the premier or the party when contacted by The Province. And, in an interview with Global B.C. that aired Tuesday, she denied every being offered money.
Yet in the same interview, she confirmed that she did, at one point, meet with Bloy and a job was offered.
"The last time that I had a conversation was meeting with Harry Bloy," she told Global B.C. "I could feel that he was asked by someone to come and meet me. He said that there was a job happening, that if I want to go and work for them, for Brian Bonney and Harry Bloy."
Sarrafpour also told Global that former multicultural minister John Yap was fully aware of the controversial ethnic outreach program, which was the subject of the Dyble report.
Her contract apparently also stipulated that she never say she worked for a government minister, MLA or the government itself, according to Global.
The contents of the email were again the subject of fiery debate in the B.C. Legislature Tuesday, with the NDP renewing its call for an independent investigation into the matter. NDP leader Adrian Dix said late Tuesday that he will continue to press for answers.
"It is very serious," he said after watching the Global story. "I don't think we have all the information yet. The premier has more to answer for."
