The latest comments from Auditor General John Noseworthy indicates that government will not be allowing him access to cabinet documents during his probe into the fibre optic deal.
On November 22 when the House of Assembly voted to ask the Auditor General to look into the matter, Kelvin Parsons said:The public already know, for example, that the Auditor General cannot delve into Cabinet confidences. People in the public already know that the Auditor General is limited by the provisions of the Auditor General Act.
A CBC report today notes that the AG acknowledges that provincial legislation governing his office clearly rules that cabinet documents are not meant to be released, but that he believed the records are important enough that he asked for them to be released anyway.
Today in a statement, Premier Williams noted:
So what's the story here?
Now if government had opened the files to the AG then that would have been news.
Otherwise it's just political business as usual. And who wants to encourage those kinds of shenanigans just before Christmas?
Today in a statement, Premier Williams noted:
While our government is fully committed to facilitating this review, we must nevertheless abide by the law. To provide Cabinet documentation would in fact break the act governing the office of the AG.So the government and the opposition and the auditor general all knew that the documents can't be released for the purposes of this investigation.
So what's the story here?
Now if government had opened the files to the AG then that would have been news.
Otherwise it's just political business as usual. And who wants to encourage those kinds of shenanigans just before Christmas?
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