B.C. premier accuses NDP of hacking party website but can't provide proof

B.C. Premier Christy Clark is struggling to come up with proof that her governing party's website was hacked by the Opposition NDP. 

Clark told Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer on Tuesday that "we saw them try to hack into our website the other day" and that "hacking into websites with malicious intent is against the law."

The comment follows a series of tweets over the weekend from a B.C. Liberal spokesman claiming that the party's website had been hacked and that the stolen data had been provided to the media. 

Official complaint filed

What actually happened to the website is unclear.

The party claims that someone with what it terms "technical expertise and malicious intent" obtained confidential information submitted through the site.

The files in question include information provided by people on Vancouver Island about what they would like to see the Liberals focus on.

The Liberals have asked the Office of Information and Privacy Commissioner to look into the matter and are still in the midst of gathering evidence for a formal police report. 

But the B.C. Liberals have unveiled some of that evidence after Clark spoke to reporters. 

"We have identified numerous IP addresses linked to attempts to hack into BCLiberals.com. One of these IP addresses, common to the Vancouver Island Platform hack and another previous attempt, has been traced to the Legislative Assembly in Victoria," wrote a party spokesman in an emailed statement.

Today, when asked to present proof that the site was hacked by the B.C. NDP, she did not provide any evidence.

"They talked like they had, but who knows. I am not spending a whole lot of time thinking about it," said Clark. "British Columbians do not care about that stuff, all that inside baseball stuff. They care about where the party stands."

But NDP Leader John Horgan says the real issue is the honesty of the premier and her government. 

"My experience is whenever she starts making things up. I think that speaks to her character more than I ever could," said Horgan. "She created the ball diamond, she threw the first pitch and it was just totally fabricated."

NDP demanding full apology

Horgan says the party had nothing to do with the documents becoming publicly available and believes that it could have been an internal error by the Liberals that led to the information getting out.

The NDP leader also added that the Liberals first raised the issue themselves on social media, and that Clark brought it up yesterday in the Vancouver Sun interviews after being asked an unrelated question. 

"I believe that the premier should do the right thing and apologize to the B.C. NDP," said Horgan. "The premier just wants to distract from the issues she is weak on."

The NDP has contacted a lawyer and may be considering legal action.