Zinck admits to drinking, gambling problems

Former backbench NDP MLA Trevor Zinck admitted to drinking and gambling problems in an interview with CBC News Thursday after being kicked out of government caucus over unpaid bills.

The mounting pressures of running his constituency office without an assistant and the serious health problems of his father contributed to him drinking more and gambling online, Zinck said.

"Unfortunately, with all the stresses that came into play, I had started to drink more and I had started to have a problem with online gambling. I, at that point, thought that in my best interests, I had better get some help with this," he said.

"So, I went through the employment assistance program. I'm still taking my counselling, I'm going to address the issues and I'll follow up with the Speaker in regards to proving that I have everything paid up."

Earlier Thursday, the NDP announced Zinck had been suspended over "persistent" problems with his constituency expenses.

Caucus chair Vicki Conrad said the government caucus can no longer trust the representative for Dartmouth North.

"We decided to suspend him because members feel we do not have the necessary trust in his conduct as a member of this caucus," Conrad told reporters Thursday.

The problem involved unpaid bills, according to the Speaker's Office.

Speaker Charlie Parker said Zinck was reimbursed for certain office expenses, such as power and rent, but didn't immediately use the money to pay those bills.

Parker said there were "irregularities" with five transactions over the past year, amounting to a few thousand dollars.

"I'll be asking for all advice from legal counsel on what they think the nature of the issue is," he said. "Whether it's fraud or not I don't know until I've had the chance to sit down with a good lawyer."

Zinck told CBC News that everything is up to date. He said his constituency bookkeeping fell behind when he lost his assistant last fall and his father became seriously ill.

"This has got nothing to do - and I want to be clear on this - with the auditor general's report. I did fall behind in paying some bills but everything has been put back in check. I've reassured the Speaker's Office as of this week I have a full-time assistant in place as of Jan. 25 and it's business as usual for this community," said Zinck.

'Persistent problem'

Zinck said he understood why the NDP caucus had chosen to eject him.

"In light of the MLA [spending] scandal, and all of the inadequacies that have come out, yeah, it's a check-and-balance thing that has to be looked at. I spoke to the Speaker on Monday, I'm going to responding to the letter and submitting the receipts to show that the bills have been paid," he said.

But Conrad described it as a "persistent problem" with payments.

She said the problem in Zinck's district became apparent after the June provincial election and that attempts to fix it didn't work.

Conrad said caucus discussed the matter with Zinck this week after receiving new information, and then decided to suspend him indefinitely as of Wednesday night.

"This decision was not taken lightly. Many of us have worked with Mr. Zinck for several years. But in the end, we feel that the action we have taken was the right thing to do," said Conrad.

Explanation unsatisfactory

Premier Darrell Dexter said Zinck's explanation for his expenses did not satisfy caucus.

"You'd have to imagine that in that room, these are people who have worked with Mr. Zinck for many years. I think they'd be pretty open and I know they're pretty open to having an adequate explanation and what Mr. Zinck had to say did not satisfy the members of the caucus," he said.

Zinck's desk is now on the opposition side in the House of Assembly, as the spring session opened.

Nova Scotia MLAs have been in the hot seat over their expenses since an auditor general's report in February highlighted "excessive and unreasonable" claims.

Progressive Conservative Richard Hurlburt resigned his Yarmouth seat after it was discovered that he had billed taxpayers $8,000 for a generator that he kept at home.

Liberal Dave Wilson later stepped down as MLA for Glace Bay but didn't give a reason.