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Involvement of premier in cable deal
questioned Liberal Opposition Critic for Innovation, Trade and Rural Development and MHA for the District of Grand Bank, Judy Foote, says serious questions still remain unanswered surrounding the premier’s involvement in the fibre-optic deal while he was the Minister of Business. The premier undertook the role of minister responsible for business when he established his first cabinet in November 2003, following the election of that year. He remained in that position until a cabinet shuffle in July 2006, when Kevin O’Brien was appointed the lead minister. The proposal from the consortium of companies entered government during the time the premier was handling business-related policies and deals. "A business deal as large as the cable proposal certainly would have been vetted through the Department of Business," Foote points out. "Even while it was moving through the cabinet process, the Department of Business would have injected some cross-departmental input into a project requiring a huge chunk of taxpayers’ money. The premier prided himself of being hands-on and so are we expected to believe that he had no involvement, especially as it was a telecommunications project. The fact that it was the premier himself who said he took it off the cabinet agenda and recommended that this proposal go back for further scrutiny clearly shows he was knee-deep into this deal, despite his protest otherwise. "Last week, the premier admitted in the House of Assembly that he and Dean MacDonald, one of the players in the telecommunications proposal - and a friend and former associate - shared a conversation on this deal. The premier would not confirm when this conversation took place, but certainly the timeline indicates it was while he was Minister of Business. "The premier was aware that a framework model was developed for government on how government would secure its future data and communications requirements. The premier claims the proposal was unsolicited, but was some kind of inside sharing going on here between these two long-time friends and associates? That’s one of the questions a public inquiry into this matter would answer, on whether a heads-up was provided to close friends of the premier."
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