B.C. Premier Christy Clark was on the defensive Sunday after a newspaper profile revealed she had run a red light at an abandoned intersection with her 11-year-old son in the car.
According to the Vancouver Sun article, Clark’s son Hamish encouraged the Premier to flout the rules while she was driving him to a goalie clinic at 5:15 a.m.
“I might. Don’t test me,” Clark is quoted as saying. “Would you go through? You shouldn’t because that would be breaking the law.”
After she drove through the stoplight, Hamish reportedly said, “You always do that.”
The BC Liberal leader apologized at a campaign stop in North Vancouver Sunday, but denied that it was a regular occurrence.
“No, that’s not true,” Clark said. “I shouldn’t have done it and I certainly shouldn’t have done it with my son in the car, but you know what? I work to be a great parent and I’m not a perfect parent.”
The controversy came just weeks before the May 14 provincial election date, but Clark’s main rival, NDP Leader Adrian Dix, downplayed the story and opted not to comment directly.
“I’m not worried about these things, I’m not going to make them big issues, I’m not going to be running TV ads because I’m concerned about the future of B.C.,” Dix said.
Dix was hammered by critics last year when he was caught without a ticket on the SkyTrain, though the opposition leader insisted he had purchased a day pass and misplaced it.
