Today, following Premier Wakeham’s announcement that the independent review of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be released publicly on May 19, NL NDP Leader Jim Dinn (St. John’s Centre) wrote to the Premier urging that the discussion take place in the House of Assembly to ensure full transparency and accountability.
Dinn is calling on the Premier to mirror the January 2025 debate format used when the MOU was first introduced, allowing Members of the House of Assembly to directly question the review panel. He stressed that anything less risks undermining public trust, particularly given that the deal has been politically contentious from the outset.
“We propose adopting the same process and rules used by the previous government for its extraordinary sitting of the House in January 2025. As you recall, senior staff from NL Hydro and other key people involved in negotiations came before the House to answer questions from all members,” Dinn wrote. “MHAs and party leaders also received double the amount of speaking time. Given that there are only three witnesses to call, we ask that debate be allowed for a minimum of two days.”
The full letter is attached.