Erik Bornman

Erik Bornman is a former lobbyist. Nicknamed 'spiderman' he was involved in a corruption scandal in British Columbia. Bornman, 28, is a controversial figure even within the BC and federal Liberal parties, with a chequered past that includes some dubious political activities.

Bornman earned his nickname Spiderman after he entered a locked federal Liberal Party office – which contained the BC membership list during the time of the leadership battle between Paul Martin and Jean Chretien – through the ceiling. In 1999, Bornman helped organize a federal Young Liberal convention in Victoria’s Traveller's Inn that turned into a drunken hotel-trashing. The party was sued for $10,000 in damages by owner John Asfar but he settled out of court.

Surprisingly, in 2003 Bornman was listed as the registered lobbyist for Asfar's efforts to locate a casino in a Victoria hotel. But in an email to me last year after I reported on Bornman’s lobbying record, Asfar claimed that Bornman never lobbied government on behalf of his company.

“Secondly, Eric Bowman [sic] has never lobbied for me or any of my related companies with Government! Not once!!! He was hired by our company to introduce us to a private casino operator in Wells, BC (The Jack O’ clubs Casino operation). ….,” Asfar wrote on March 18, 2004. “He [Bornman] prematurely and proactively registered my company and his company without our consent or any contractual agreement. He was forward marketing himself and anticipated presumptuously that our relationship would expand if he was successful in the introducing us to the casino owners.”

Long list of clients

But despite these and other controversies, Bornman had created a successful career as a provincial government lobbyist for major corporations. Bornman and Kieran were the registered provincial lobbyists for OmniTRAX, the US-based rail company that was bidding for BC Rail against eventual winner CN Rail and CP Rail, which dropped out of the bidding because of what it said was a "clear breach" of fairness in the process due to other bidders receiving confidential information.

In addition to OmniTRAX, Bornman was active in BC government relations as a registered lobbyist for the Employers Forum of BC, the Council of Forest Industries, the Western Canadian Shippers Coalition, the Broe Companies, Inc. (owners of OmniTRAX), the BC Real Estate Association, Famous Players, the Certified General Accountants Association of BC, and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, according to the BC government's lobbyist Web site.

But Bornman’s lobbying career ended when police executed search warrants on December 28 at the BC Legislature and the homes and offices of some prominent Liberals in connection with an investigation into drug dealing, organized crime, and the BC Rail privatization deal. Police searched the Legislature workspaces of Basi, ministerial assistant to then Finance Minister Gary Collins, and Virk, ministerial assistant to then Transportation Minister Judith Reid, and also searched Basi’s home in Victoria.

Another home searched was Bornman’s West End Vancouver apartment, where he ran the Vancouver operation of Pilothouse Public Affairs, the company he ran with former Vancouver Province newspaper columnist Brian Kieran and Jamie Elmhirst, the current president of the Liberal Party of Canada in BC.

[Pilothouse will be renamed K&E Public Affairs shortly, according to the Pilothouse website.]^[1]

Former provincial ministerial aides David Basi and Bob Virk and former communications aide Aneal Basi all face a variety of charges stemming back two and a half years to December 28, 2003.

On that date, Canadians were shocked by television footage of police officers carting box after box out of the legislature in a case that allegedly involved not only the $1 billion BC Rail privatization deal, but drug trafficking, influence peddling, breach of trust and fraud.

David Basi, his brother-in-law Virk and his cousin all face trial in B.C. Supreme Court starting June 5.

On Monday, a large volume of information related to several search warrants was released to the media. Included are allegations that lobbyists Erik Bornman and Brian Kieran of Pilothouse Public Affairs paid almost $30,000 to the accused in exchange for confidential government information on part of the BC Rail deal.^[2]

Erik Bornman is now a University of B.C. law student articling in Toronto at the prestigious firm of McCarthy Tetrault, which donated $118,000 to the federal leadership campaign of former Liberal Party Prime Minister Paul Martin, who Bornman once worked for when Martin was finance minister.

Bornman, the budding lawyer, earned the nickname "Spiderman" after he once entered a locked federal Liberal Party in B.C. office through the ceiling.

...Bornman and Kieran were at one time registered as lobbyists for OmniTRAX, the US-based rail company that bid for BC Rail against eventual winner CN Rail. Another bidder, CP Rail, bailed out of the bidding because it claimed there was a "clear breach" of fairness in the process, due to other bidders receiving confidential information.

As well as representing OmniTRAX, Bornman was a registered lobbyist for the Employers Forum of BC, the Council of Forest Industries, the Western Canadian Shippers Coalition, the Broe Companies, Inc. (owners of OmniTRAX), the BC Real Estate Association, Famous Players, the Certified General Accountants Association of BC and Capgemini Ernst & Young, according to the B.C. government's lobbyist web site. ^[3]

Notes

1. ^ Bill Tieleman Spiderman in a Web of Intrigue Legislature raid still under wraps The Basi-Virk-BC Rail probe may yield BC’s biggest scandal yet. If so, meet the Crown’s mysterious star witness: ‘Spiderman’ Erik Bornman. The Tyee, Published: May 10, 2005.
2. ^ Bill Tieleman Leg Raid Case: New Charges, New Questions Scandal keeps growing Influence peddling on big land deal alleged. TheTyee.ca Published: April 4, 2006
3. ^ Bill Tieleman Leg Raid Case: New Charges, New Questions Scandal keeps growing Influence peddling on big land deal alleged. TheTyee.ca Published: April 4, 2006