A popular provincial Liberal abruptly resigned his Nova Scotia seat Friday under somewhat mysterious circumstances, saying only that he could no longer fulfill his duties and responsibilities in the legislature.
Shortly after MLA Dave Wilson resigned, it was revealed that the province's auditor general - who is conducting an audit into politicians' spending - had requested a meeting with him in late February.
It isn't known why Auditor General Jacques Lapointe wanted the meeting with the legislature member from Cape Breton.
Mr. Wilson, 54, issued a brief statement announcing his immediate departure as the member for Glace Bay, N.S., saying he would make no further comment. Mr. Wilson asked for privacy.
At a news conference, Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil said he didn't know why Mr. Wilson was stepping down or why the auditor wanted to speak to him.
Mr. McNeil said Mr. Wilson called him Thursday night to say he was resigning. Mr. Wilson refused to offer reasons for his departure or his dealings with Mr. Lapointe based on advice from his lawyer, Mr. McNeil added.
"I had asked him why and he said I'm not prepared to talk about that," Mr. McNeil said.
"He informed me that he'd been instructed by his lawyer not to speak about the matters. I am not aware of the nature of the auditor general's questions."
Mr. Lapointe is conducting a forensic audit into the spending of some provincial politicians. Last month, he said his office is "looking at specific events and transactions and seeing whether or not there may be illegalities involved in some of them."
Mr. McNeil said Mr. Wilson called him on Wednesday, Feb. 24, to inform the Liberal Leader that Mr. Lapointe wanted to meet with him that Friday. A day after the meeting was supposed to take place, Mr. McNeil said, Mr. Wilson informed him he had hired a lawyer and didn't meet with the auditor general.
Mr. McNeil said Wilson was told by his lawyer not to speak to Mr. Lapointe, but he doesn't know why.
"I would have liked to know, but Dave has chosen obviously not to release that information to me on the advice of legal counsel," he said.
"I was certainly surprised at the phone call I received last night."
Mr. McNeil said no other Liberal members had been approached by the auditor. Officials with the NDP and Tories said none of their members had been contacted.
The auditor general said last month that he would undertake the forensic investigation to follow up on some of the questionable transactions he flagged in an audit that cited numerous examples of inappropriate or excessive spending from politicians' constituency allowances.
Mr. Lapointe's office said Friday they couldn't comment on the ongoing investigation or why they wanted to talk to Mr. Wilson.
The original audit, the first of its kind in 15 years, revealed members of the legislature used taxpayers' money to pay for custom-made furniture, renovations, a video game, cameras, big-screen TVs, an espresso maker, laptops and other items the auditor deemed too expensive or inappropriate.
Mr. Wilson was in the news recently after the NDP, Liberals and Conservatives released figures showing how much their members spent on extra staff and extra pay for their constituency assistants.
The Liberals released the figures for six of the party's 11 members of the legislature.
Of those who submitted documentation in the Liberal Party, Mr. Wilson spent the most, confirming that he paid his constituency assistant more than $24,000 on top on their regular salary over a year and a half. He also paid more than $37,000 over the course of three years to other staff.
On Feb. 19, Mr. Wilson said he values the work done by his constituency office in Glace Bay, which handled 800 files last year.
"Most of my budget, I earmark for staff instead of advertising and donations," he said.
"I appreciate that some may view these numbers as high, but it reflects the volume of work that has been handled by my office."
Mr. Wilson, who also served as the chairman of the Liberal caucus, was first elected to the legislature in 1999 and has been re-elected five times.
Before entering politics, Mr. Wilson worked as a broadcast journalist in Cape Breton and Saint John.