The Vancouver Province devoted several full pages on Sunday and again on Monday detailing an investigation into Liberal MP’s Blair Wilson’s financial history.
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.
When asked to comment on the allegations about campaign expense discrepancies, Wilson, the Liberals' B.C. caucus chair, former associate critic for finance and now the national revenue critic for the Official Opposition, said, “These are just unfounded allegations.”
“The only thing I can say is I had a very good fiscal agent that filed all the necessary documents. I have not heard anything with respect to these allegations from Elections Canada to date, and if and when I do hear from Elections Canada, I'll have more to comment on.”