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Opposition Leader Roger Grimes says the passage of
government’s Transparency and Accountability Act last night did nothing to
make them more open, accountable or transparent. Grimes asked several
questions related to government expenditures and reports in today’s question
period in the House of Assembly without receiving any answers.
"Last night government stumbled and bumbled their way to
the passage of the Transparency and Accountability Act in the House of
Assembly, even to the point where two members of their own caucus, notably
Elizabeth Marshall and Shawn Skinner, voted against certain aspects of this
Bill," said Mr. Grimes. "It’s not a good sign when members of the government
are voting against certain clauses of their own legislation. It must concern
the Premier that his star candidate, the former Auditor General, has
concerns related to legislation that was touted
as government’s theme for this session of the House of
Assembly.
"In questions I raised today, government refused to
give any information related to contracts given to two communications firms.
Ryan Research and Communications, a company that has completed internal
polling for the PC Party in the past, received a $42,000 contract. There was
also a $100,000 contract awarded to Market Insights Incorporated to do work
for the non-existent Department of Business. We have not been given any
information as to whether these contracts were tendered or what work was
completed.
"We also asked government to release reports they have
had in their possession for months. Government will still not give us any
indication as to when they will release their long-awaited fixed link study
or the Hay Group Report that is recommending cutbacks to health care
services for the western and northern regions of our province.
"It is very unfortunate that this government continues
to state they are open and accountable, yet refuse to provide any answers to
the people of the province. For a government that claims they are bringing
forward a new era of openness and accountability, their cloak of secrecy
remains. If this government truly wanted to make information readily
available, a good start would be answering questions that are asked in the
people’s House of Assembly." |