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VANCOUVER — A former government communications director received a nine-month conditional sentence Wednesday for using his public job to attract ethnic votes for British Columbia’s Liberal party in a scheme a judge said caused “insidious damage.”

Provincial court Judge David St. Pierre said Brian Bonney used private emails to keep his role as supervisor to three community outreach workers a secret as they enlisted support from minority groups and individuals.

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The multiculturalism plan started in October 2011 with the aim of bringing so-called quick wins among ethnic voters for the Liberal party in the 2013 election through events supporting long-standing grievances and cultural issues.

Court heard Bonney worked on the plan for the party while he was supposed to be doing work paid for by taxpayers.

There might well be unfair and undeserved consequences for saying no to the minister but those consequences, I'm sure I hope you agree, pale in comparison to what you're having to go through



St. Pierre said while Bonney didn’t benefit financially from breaching the standard of responsibility for public servants, he benefited politically as someone who had backed Christy Clark’s successful bid for the party’s leadership.