VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- British Columbia premier Glen Clark resigned Saturday, a day after authorities revealed he was being investigated in a criminal probe into casino licensing and influence peddling.
Clark, who has been leader of Canada's third most populous province since 1996, again denied wrongdoing but acknowledged the allegations against him contained in court documents released on Friday made him look bad."They contain scurrilous and unfounded allegations, many of which have already been disproved and others of which I categorically deny," Clark told a news conference in Victoria.
Clark become the third British Columbia premier to be driven out of office by controversy in less than 10 years. He has led the western province since 1996, and he said Saturday he will remain in the Legislature.
Members of Clark's New Democratic Party (NDP) caucus met after his news conference to choose a new interim premier. They will likely hold a formal leadership contest in the next few months. They do not have to call a provincial election until 2001.
Clark was already battling low public opinion polls and controversy over a police raid on his home in March when his government was rocked Friday by the revelation that Clark was under criminal investigation.
"I like being the underdog, but this is ridiculous," Clark joked to reporters.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is looking into the conditional granting of a casino license to Dimitrios Pilarinos, a friend and neighbor of Clark, but had previously said the premier himself was not a focus of the probe.
Search warrant information released Friday cast doubt on Clark's claim that he did not aid Pilarinos on the casino application. The documents, part of a search warrant on Clark's home, do not allege criminal wrongdoing by the premier.
According to the documents, police suspected that Pilarinos, a construction contractor, tried to gain Clark's influence by providing home renovation work at below cost. Clark said he was only able to view the documents 10 days ago but acknowledged that they made him look "terrible," and "in hindsight I should have taken steps to ensure my actions were not misinterpreted."
The opposition Liberal Party immediately called for new provincial elections. "This is a very sad day. We have a crisis in the province's reputation," Liberal Party leader Gordon Campbell told CKNW Radio in Vancouver.