News Release: Minister must explain $3,600 dinner
VANCOUVER, B.C.: Minister Lana Popham needs to tell taxpayers who she wined and dined at an upscale Victoria restaurant last April and why it cost taxpayers over $3,600.
“Normal families are looking for savings while Popham is popping champagne with Hollywood bigwigs,” said Carson Binda, CTF B.C. Director. “Taxpayers deserve to know who we bought $1,000 worth of booze for.”
In her former role as minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport, Popham took unnamed “film representatives from L.A.” to a “working meeting over dinner” at the Wind Cries Mary restaurant in Victoria, according to documents exclusively obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The liquor tab alone from the “working dinner” topped $1,000.
The government refused to disclose who the “film executives” were and withheld that information from the package provided in response to the freedom of information request.
The receipt included:
- 19 glasses of “Welcome Bubs” for $190;
- Three bottles of Syrah wine for $285;
- Four bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon for $360;
- Two bottles of Pinot Gris for $140;
- A “service charge” totaling $611;
- and 13 meals totaling $1,105
“Taxpayers deserve a clear answer from Popham: who did you take for dinner and what benefit was there for the people of British Columbia?” Binda said. “Premier David Eby has instructed his ministers to save money, but Popham couldn’t even find savings by skipping the ninth bottle of wine or the 19 glasses of bubbly.”
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