BC Liberal MLAs who have said they won't run in the May 14 election are creating problems for the governing party, Bill Bennett said today.

"There's an issue with a whole bunch of people who aren't running again, who aren't invested the way you are when you are running," said Bennett, who is minister of community, sport and cultural development and the BC Liberals election platform co-chair.

"You think you can just say whatever you feel like saying and there's no consequences and for them I guess there aren't," he said.

He acknowledged he's frustrated. "I want to win. I want to win personally and I want to see our party win. Seeing people not running again, they've taken their eye of the ball. It's not about them anymore."

Bennett made the comments on a day when the Globe and Mail quoted former finance minister Kevin Falcon saying Premier Christy Clark made promises in Prince George for a 10-storey wood frame building to serve as the Wood Innovation and Design Centre, even though he'd told her there wasn't enough money for a building of that scale.

Falcon, who came second in the BC Liberal leadership contest Clark won, has also recently publicly criticized the government over the controversial ethnic outreach memo.

While Bennett did not name names, around 17 of the current BC Liberal MLAs have announced they don't intend to run in May's election.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Find him on Twitter or reach him here.