B.C.'s former finance minister Gary Collins was not involved in criminal wrongdoing related to the sale of BC Rail -- and yet the corruption scandal derailed his political career, according to documents obtained exclusively by CTV News.
The documents reveal for the first time that Collins was on the brink of quitting provincial politics and running federally as part of Paul Martin's election team. While Martin went on to become prime minister, the unprecedented police raid on the legislature in December 2003 sank Collins' political ambitions.
"I felt that with Premier Campbell here in Victoria, having balanced the budget and with things on track, that was an opportunity to continue to serve the people of B.C. and the people of Canada," Collins told CTV News Thursday in his first interview in at least four years.
After the raid on the legislature and the corruption scandal that followed, he decided to quit politics.
"I think I lost my appetite for it all when that happened," Collins said.
In interviews with police, Collins says he was considering seeking the Vancouver-Quadra seat for the federal Liberals and was encouraging his assistant -- Dave Basi -- to seek a federal job as well, believing the two could work together in Ottawa.
But the corruption scandal over the $1-billion sale of BC Rail changed everything. Many provincial politicians, including Collins, Liberal leadership hopeful Christy Clark and Premier Gordon Campbell, have had a shadow cast over them in the wake of the legislature raid.
Despite lingering suspicions, documents released this week by the B.C. Supreme Court, following an application by CTV News and The Globe and Mail reveal no evidence that any elected B.C. politician directed a campaign to leak sensitive information to one of the bidders for BC Rail, as has been alleged.
Nearly 7,000 wiretapped phone calls suggest political aides Basi and Bobby Virk were working alone, accepting bribes while giving away government secrets. Basi was also talking to drug dealers, arranging political dirty tricks and setting up sexual favours for friends -- all while being paid by taxpayers.
"I'm very sad and I'm very angry," Collins said of the betrayal.
The Crown's evidence, along with police information and wiretaps, suggest Collins was one of many people who were duped by Basi and Virk. The documents paint Collins as a cautious politician who stayed awake at night worried about budget leaks.
In an interview with police in 2004, Collins clearly becomes angry at any suggestion he acted inappropriately.
"I go out of my way to make sure that this government and I do things right …. And if Dave or anybody who's out there saying that I was doing all this, I'm pretty angry and I'm hurt and I'm pretty pissed," he says in a transcript of the police interview.
"I'd be pretty upset if I thought that information that could have prejudiced anybody in the process or the government or shared with anybody who shouldn't have had it outside of government. That's a big problem. In my mind, that's a really big problem. That would make me angry if that happened," he tells police.
For years, Collins considered Basi his "eyes and ears in the legislature" and never had any suspicion of wrongdoing. He told investigators he had never been approached by any of the lobbyists involved in the BC Rail privatization, especially the ones who were paying the bribes.
"None of them have ever approached me," he tells police in the interview.
Collins is now working for a private investment firm in Vancouver and has no regrets about leaving politics.
"I enjoy being a dad; I enjoy being in the private sector," he said with a smile. "In this case there were some very bad people doing some very bad things and they got caught."
