A B.C. Rail train in the North Vancouver Rail Yard November 14, 2003.John Lehmann/TheGlobe and Mail
A BC Rail board member continued to make tens of thousands of dollars every year in director fees, even after most of the railway was sold and its operations whittled down to a single short spur line with fewer than 30 employees, B.C. Supreme Court heard Tuesday.
Brian Kenning, a witness at the so-called Basi-Virk corruption trial, did not dispute figures from defence lawyer Kevin McCullough that he collected about $225,000 in payments for sitting on the railway's board of directors from 2004 to 2009.
This was after the province sold the main BC Rail line and all of its stock to CN in 2003, leaving its lone operation a conduit to the coal port at Robert Banks.
Asked how many employees the railway had during those years, Mr. Kenning acknowledged: "Not very many."
In 2003, when the basic rail operation was sold, Mr. Kenning, a member of the four-person BC Rail committee handling the sale, earned director fees totalling $89,700.
Mr. Kenning was also appointed to the board of BC Ferries in 2008.
That brought him $150,000 more in remuneration over the next two years, court was told.
Overall, according to Mr. McCullough, Mr. Kenning has earned $555,000 in directorship fees since the provincial Liberals were elected in 2001.
"That's about 62 grand a year for sitting on these boards," Mr. McCullough suggested to the witness, who did not challenge the figure.
Appearing exasperated by the line of questioning, however, Mr. Kenning pointed out that he received far more for serving on the board of private-sector companies, such as MacDonald Dettwiler.
"Do you know the average income of British Columbians?" Mr. McCullough responded. "No, I don't," the witness replied.
Mr. Kenning is a Crown witness in the trial of former ministerial aides Dave Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi. Mr. Virk and Dave Basi are accused of receiving benefits in exchange for disclosing confidential information to a prospective bidder, while Aneal Basi is charged with money laundering.
The accused contend they were carrying out government wishes.
Under earlier questioning from Mr. McCullough, Mr. Kenning agreed that a company he headed - B.C. Pacific Capital Corp. - donated close to $50,000 to the provincial Liberal Party from 1999 to 2003.
Asked whether his company gave any money to the NDP, he said: "No, we didn't."
He rejected suggestions by Mr. McCullough that his company donated to the Liberals because they were "your guys, your friends … it's quid pro quo."
"That's absolutely not true," the business executive said. "Companies give donations to political parties all the time. … You often give donations to parties you want to support."
Mr. Kenning denied, as well, that he was appointed to the BC Rail board to facilitate the government's private desire to sell the provincially owned railway, a move that would have violated the Liberals' pre-election promise to leave the Crown corporation alone.
The board had been recommending to the government for nearly a year that the railway be sold without getting any response, he said.
"Until the end of 2002, we did not know at all that the government was going to sell the railway."
On another matter. Mr. Kenning testified that BC Rail decided to hire CIBC World Markets as financial advisers during the bidding process without putting the service out to tender.
Since this violated government policy that all contracts worth more than $25,000 had to be sent out for bids, the railway had to approach government to okay the move, Mr. Kenning said. "We felt it was satisfactory, because we got government approval."