"The Minister revealed today that her department has contracted Telelink to handle calls from social services clients in the St. John’s region," said Butler. "Under questioning in the House this afternoon, the Minister was unable to recognize the serious implications of what she has done. Social services clients call a government telephone number and instead are transferred out to a private call centre to handle serious situations and confidential information.

"I asked the Minister if she has ensured the call centre employees have been required to swear the same oath of secrecy that government employees must sign. The Minister refused to answer the question. It is irresponsible for her to allow clients sensitive and personal information to be shared with these employees. These people believe that they are speaking with a confidential social worker.

"In addition to this, employees in the department are trained to handle the sensitive situations that often arise when handing these cases. I asked the Minister if the call centre employees had received any special training and she was more interested in efficiencies in the department than she was addressing the special needs of social services recipients in this province."

The Liberal MHA says the real problem in HRLE is that the Minister has been unwilling to provide additional resources to provide adequate staffing levels to serve the public. Butler has raised the staffing issues several times over the past year and he says government has failed to act on his concerns.