VICTORIA — Finance Minister Mike de Jong says he supports Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk despite ordering a renewed investigation of new documents connected to the former Mountie.
The New Democrat Opposition is calling for Virk's resignation or dismissal from cabinet.
But Mike de Jong says Virk has already admitted to his past disclosure inadequacies while serving as a volunteer board member at Surrey's Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
The New Democrats released previously undisclosed emails that appear to show Virk's involvement in the hiring process of a former Kwantlen vice president was more involved than originally believed.
Virk says his future as a minister in Christy Clark's cabinet is the premier's decision, but he acknowledges the emails are legitimate and are from his former RCMP account that has been inactive for at least two years.
De Jong has forwarded the emails to government bureaucrat Rob Mingay to review. Mingay's report into the Kwantlen hiring issue released in June concluded that the university's board failed to meet government disclosure requirements when it topped up the salaries of senior executives.
