Angry in the Great White North

Blair Wilson is the Liberal MP the riding with easily the clumsiest name in the country, West Vancouver--Sunshine Coast--Sea to Sky Country.

Say that three times fast. Heck, say just it once, slowly.

You might have to learn how to, since Blair Wilson might be in the news for a bit. Blair Wilson is the national revenue critic for the Liberal Party under the leadership of Stephane Dion. Stephane Dion has expressed his confidence in Wilson by assigning him that role, but not everyone thinks Blair Wilson is suited for public office, as is being reported in print in today's The Province. It is an extended investigation, spread over three pages. I'll try to hit the highlights of this story (update: the full story is now online):

[West Vancouver real estate mogul Bill Lougheed thought he knew his 44-year-old son-in-law. After all, Wilson had been married to his stepdaughter, Kelly, for more than 17 years. But a few months ago, Lougheed had a rude awakening.

After losing his wife of 35 years, Norma (Kelly's mother and stepmother to Bill's four children by his first wife), to cancer in May, the grieving widower began to go through the meticulous records his late wife kept as the manager of the family's accounts.

What he found came as a shock.

Bill knew they had helped the Wilsons to buy six homes and recreational properties over the years, but was always told by Norma the couple was making payments.

In fact, the Lougheed family could find little evidence in going through accounting records, cheques and financial documents that the debts were paid in full. And they were shocked to learn some properties had been sold while money was still owing to the family. Others had been mortgaged to the hilt: They found the Wilsons had more than $2 million in bank loans.

Bill Lougheed has no idea what Wilson and his wife have done with the roughly $4 million total in loans and mortgages they have taken out on these properties.

The family assumes some went into capital and start-up costs for Wilson's many troubled businesses, some into playing the stock market, some on his family's lavish lifestyle -- horses, designer clothes, society events and travel.

They believe Wilson's family and business dealings refute his public assertions that "as an entrepreneur and businessman I'm fiscally responsible."

The Lougheeds also paid for the Wilson children's private education at Collingwood School. But when Wilson pulled his grandson out in 2004, Lougheed said no one ever told him that Wilson had the tuition refund cheque for $17,310 made out to himself and his wife.

The final straw for Lougheed, he says, was when Wilson asked his mother-in-law for money on her deathbed. Lougheed has a copy of a cheque Norma wrote Blair for $22,840.82 on April 27, 2007, just a month before she died from cancer.

In totalling the funds the Wilsons received from the Lougheeds over the years, the accountant listed $2,391,986 in loans and mortgages, $1,928,309 in dividends paid out through a trust, $375,036 in cash transfers from Lougheed accounts (Norma paid for $3,000 in liposuction and surgery, $5,000 in bank overdrafts and a $19,440 membership fee for the Hollyburn Country Club, for example), plus jewelry from Norma's estate -- including a nine-carat Birks diamond worth an estimated $2 million.

Bill estimates he's owed $1.9 million for various properties and mortgages, plus $200,000 he invested in Wilson's company. He wants all the money repaid. And the Lougheeds want the public to know that the man they voted in as their MP isn't who he seems.

Blair Wilson has responded to say he believes his father-in-law has been affected by the passing of his wife:

"The whole family is going through difficult, emotional and trying times. And when you combine the emotional difficulties with just the sadness that is felt by all, certain other matters cloud people's judgments. I don't know what motivates different people, but there is a great deal of emotional upheaval in the family when a loved one is lost," Wilson said.

"This is a Lougheed family matter between my wife and her stepfather and at this emotionally difficult time the family is trying to work through it."

But it's not just Bill Lougheed, and it's not just the family finances. This riding was won by a slim margin of votes, and serious allegations about the way Blair Wilson ran and financed his campaign have been raised as well. Furthermore, the issues are serious enough to re-evaluate whether Wilson met the high ethical standards required of Liberal Party nominees. Indeed, this stuff is so serious, Wilson could lose his seat:

B.C. Liberal organizer Mark Marissen told The Province he recently was passed documents that he submitted to the party's green-light committee, which vets candidates.

If proven true, the allegations would represent a serious breach of the Elections Act and could bring penalties of fines, prison time or a restriction on being "entitled to be elected or to sit in the House of Commons."

Among the allegations against Wilson, The Province has learned:

• Wilson did not report campaign expenses to Elections Canada and paid for supplies off the books, in cash, a breach of the act.
• Wilson and his wife, Kelly, borrowed roughly $1.9 million from his in-laws to purchase six properties, and much remains unpaid despite the fact they have sold some homes.
• Wilson and his wife were subject to Social Services Tax Act liens on three properties and owe $2.1 million in bank mortgages.
• Wilson misled the media about the true extent of his business success, exaggerating the number of restaurants he founded and claiming to have sold an accountancy business his in-laws claim closed, among other discrepancies.
• Wilson lost hundreds of thousands of family investors' money in the stock market and yet billed them for management fees.
• Wilson's two restaurants, Mahoneys and Wilson's Steakhouse, closed. He was taken twice to the B.C. Employment Standards Tribunal for refusing to pay employees, was sued twice for failing to pay contractors, was twice compelled by the courts to pay GST owing, and was also taken to court by a supplier over $33,839 that was owed (this amount was later paid).
• Wilson bought extravagant gifts for a girlfriend in Poland while working for a restaurant chain called Pan Smak Pizza Inc.

Let's expand on that first bullet, the question of Blair Wilson's campaign expenses. That's a story all in itself:

Veteran Liberal campaign manager Elizabeth Wood knows running a campaign in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country electoral district is tough. The riding is the fourth largest in Canada in terms of geographic area. That means higher travel, advertising and office expenses -- including rent and staff for offices in West Vancouver, Whistler, Squamish, Powell River and Sechelt -- paid with the same per-capita-based budget formula as smaller ridings.

So when the Sechelt resident signed up to run Wilson's campaign in June 2005, she knew budgeting would be a challenge, but she had run campaigns three times before. And if anyone was up for the task it should have been Wilson, who, as a chartered accountant, stated in a campaign brochure that "I know that being fiscally responsible and accountable is how government must be run."

Wood's modest budget totalled $80,986, leaving a cushion to keep the total below the Elections Act limit of $93,260.52.

"I had done a budget for Blair near the end of the summer," she told The Province. "I'm a real stickler about the rules and regulations for the campaign. Blair didn't like it."

Wood alleges Wilson conquered this vast riding by spending lavishly; failing to declare rent discounts as donations as required by law; accepting, but not accounting for, items such as umbrellas and fleece jackets; omitting payments for brochures and business cards, auto-dial phone services and Canada Post drops; and paying cash and failing to leave a paper trail of dozens of office expenses.

She claims that the week the writ was dropped (the campaign ran from Nov. 29, 2005, to January 23, 2006), she, Wayne Rowe, who was being considered for the role of official agent, and her conservative budget were tossed out. She was replaced with a man Wilson met at a Liberal convention in Richmond named Guillio Vilas.

"Blair just said: 'I've made up a new budget and I've taken over the finances and you can keep the title of campaign manager.' And I said, 'I'm sorry, you can't do that. You can't run your own campaign.' And he just said, 'That's what I'm doing.'"

Many of Wood's claims are documented. She provided The Province with internal campaign e-mail correspondence between campaign staffers that indicates several outstanding expenses.

Over and over again, money was spent but not accounted for:

For example, Wilson was offered West Vancouver campaign office space at 1868 Marine Drive for a total of $6,360 for two months. Yet the cost for regular long-term tenants was $11,000 per month, according to owners Ocean Walk Holdings. Candidates are required to report commercial charges for services on their Elections Canada filings even if they receive discounts. Wilson did not appear to include the discount in his filing.

There are other discrepancies.

According to e-mail correspondence between staffers, printing costs for 60,000 brochures were estimated at $6,650 in a Dec. 5 quote from Vancouver's DPI People. Yet nowhere in Wilson's election filing is DPI People listed as a supplier. Wood alleged Vilas told her they had also handed out an additional 40,000 brochures.

Campaign staff e-mails indicate Wilson received a donation of 60 branded umbrellas for the campaign with a commercial value of $3,531 plus tax. The umbrellas were donated by the TAG Group, according to e-mails between company donor Spencer Gray and Wayne Rowe. There is no line item for this.

The former campaign manager also observed staff had Blair Wilson-branded fleece jackets made, which key organizers were seen wearing in photographs. Vilas stated they cost approximately $150 each. They were ordered for at least eight people for a minimum total of $1,200, Wood said. There is no indication these were accounted for in the Elections Canada filing.

People are alleging that Guillio Vilas insisted on paying people in cash, issuing no receipts. Johanna Tuin is just one example:

Johanna Polman Tuin, a Powell River organizer for Wilson in both his campaigns, said she didn't have to submit office supply receipts to the official agent and wait to be reimbursed. She was given cash for her expenses directly from Vilas.

"It was Guillio who ran the show. Who he was, I don't know. I just know that I got cash for my expenses," Polman Tuin said.

Now before you ask just how is it that this is all coming to the surface now, know that questions have been asked for some time, and there has been turmoil in the riding as a result:

After the election, she said, Wilson seemed to desert the riding and the local executive quit en masse as questions began to surface.

"We didn't want nothing to do with Blair. I think the campaign was a strange situation. I'd never run a campaign like that. I didn't like the way it was run. I'm just disappointed," Polman Tuin said.

"I certainly did notice financial irregularities," said former Powell River organizer Laurie McNeill.

Wilson's former communications director, Christopher Bennett, who had worked for Wilson since 2004 (he is now with the Green Party), also quit when he thought the campaign was going awry.

"I think Blair's a guy of incredible passion and he loves his riding. He's devoted and he wanted that job more than anybody," Bennett said.

"But there were some personalities that came into his campaign that I didn't care for. You could say Guillio . . . This Guillio guy came in and it all started going weird."

People are coming to the conclusion that Blair Wilson is simply unfit for office:

Having seen Wilson's conduct in Powell River and having reviewed information about his financial dealings, Powell River riding member and former B.C. Liberal Okanagan East MLA Judy Tyabji said she doesn't feel Wilson is fit for office.

"I don't believe he's the right person to be representing the riding. I think that when you come forward to serve the public, you have to be acting in a way that is consistent with what you say you represent," Tyabji said, noting she has taken her concerns to people in positions of authority in the party.

"I haven't come to this decision lightly," she said, "but from what I have seen with my own eyes, I don't believe that Blair's standards of financial conduct are consistent with good public service."

Wilson, for his part, is either denying the allegations, or holding his tongue pending an official declaration of an investigation from Elections Canada.

Quite the story, but this is just the first part. Tomorrow The Province will be running part two, in which "Wilson's business partners speak out about the MP's role in businesses that ended with acrimonious lawsuits".

You know you've got problems when a newspaper has to run the allegations in a two-part series.

Follow-up: What will Stephane Dion do about Blair Wilson?

[A much abbreviated online version of the Blair Wilson story is in today's Times Colonist.]

Addendum: The questions have been raised on blogs too. On October 19, North Vancouver Politics reported on Blair Wilson's appointment as national revenue critic. Here are some of the posted responses:

Anonymous: You're kidding right? Didn't he have to close Wilson's Steakhouse because of bankruptcy and tax issues? Talk about putting a fox in the hen-house... well, at least outside the hen-house... criticizing it.

Short temper: LOL. Tell me this is a joke.

Investigation: Blair Wilson is in serious glue, as is his Campaign Manager John Moonen. Evidently not are his campaign finaces(managed by Moonen after the first campaign manager quit over money issues)in question, but his Wilson's disasterious business history is slowly comming to light. He's hurt a lot of folks.

Anonymous: Obviously, Dion is not aware of Blair's well-known financial troubles, perhaps Dion is clueless in more ways than one.

Check out other entries from the Blair Wilson category
Results will open in a new window.