Two top officials in British Columbia's legislature have both denied allegations of overspending in lengthy, written defences, according to a report in a Vancouver newspaper. The Vancouver Sun on Friday obtained and published the two suspended officials' written denials to Speaker Darryl Plecas' report, which last month accused both men of flagrant misuse of taxpayers' money. But James, in a 24-page response, said the Plecas report goes "out if its way to smear my character." Lenz defended his travel expenses, saying he told the Speaker he actually preferred to travel economy on business trips to save the taxpayer money. Plecas says he will provide a detailed reply to both officials' responses at the next committee meeting and declined to comment further on Friday.

Source: CBC News February 09, 2019 03:59 UTC