NORTH Vancouver MLA Naomi Yamamoto said this week she did nothing wrong by allowing a staffer to share a Province reporter's questions with a cabinet colleague.
But she said she was surprised and disappointed that Harry Bloy then took that information to the company - Eminata - that those inquiries were about.
On Thursday, Opposition Leader Adrian Dix called for Yamamoto's resignation as Minister of Advanced Education over the issue, saying it was her responsibility that the questions sent to her ministry were leaked.
But Yamamoto said Friday neither she nor her staff have done anything wrong.
Yamamoto said Friday that information is often shared among cabinet colleagues. In this case, the staffer passed it to Bloy because as Minister of Multiculturalism, he often deals with issues affecting foreign students and immigrants, she said.
"He deals with newcomers in his job every single day. Sixty per cent of these students in these private institutions are new Canadians. We wanted to make sure he knew what I was saying about private institutions," she said. "I did not expect him to hand it over."
Bloy resigned from cabinet Thursday after it was learned he passed the information on to the CEO of the company the Province newspaper was writing about. The story involved a number of complaints by students in private post-secondary institutions run by the Eminata Group. Opposition MLAs also pointed out in the Legislature that Eminata has also been a significant contributor to the Liberal Party.
