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In the great legislature booze caper, former Speaker Linda Reid’s lips have been sealed tighter than a cask of fine wine.

The long-serving Liberal MLA was on the witness list in the recent investigation of the infamous 2013 removal of a truckload of taxpayer-purchased hooch from the legislature building in Victoria.

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The booze — up to $10,000 worth according to one estimate — was loaded onto a truck belonging to disgraced former clerk Craig James, who claimed he was ordered to bring the alcohol to another former Liberal Speaker, Bill Barisoff.

Doug LePard, the former Vancouver deputy police chief brought in to investigate, wanted to talk to Reid about the boozy business. But Reid, who replaced Barisoff as Speaker two months after the liquor removal, wasn’t in a talkative mood.

“On July 22, 2019, I sent an email to MLA Linda Reid seeking a brief interview,” LePard wrote in his recent report. “On July 27, Ms. Reid responded by email that she was away for a few weeks and directed me to her counsel.”