NL NDP Leader Jim Dinn (St. John’s Centre) says the release of the Independent Review Committee (IRC) report on the Churchill Falls MOU leaves more questions than answers, pointing to concerns of transparency and credibility, and the timelines for future development.
Released today without members of the IRC present, the report highlights issues within the existing MOU around pricing, partnership models, and the heavy handed involvement of the previous government. While Dinn is pleased questions were finally addressed, he is questioning the lack of transparency around the report, and why the panel members were not available to answer questions.
“I am glad insight was brought forward about the existing MOU around issues that we had questions about, but I am deeply concerned about the lack of opportunity to ask the panel members how they came to the findings in the report. Premier Wakeham even answered questions from the media saying, ‘that’s a question for the panel,’ yet we can’t ask the panel.”
“I was also shocked to find out that there was anonymity granted to all experts and stakeholders who were interviewed for this report,” Dinn added. “As a teacher, if a student handed me a report but wouldn’t cite any of their work, I would give it a failing grade. For the public to not know who was interviewed calls into question the credibility. For a truly transparent report, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians would be able to know who was interviewed.”
Dinn says the oversight issues by the former Liberal government brought forward in the report are important to address going forward in negotiations, but he has little confidence that the Conservative’s will get it right.
“It was clear in the report showed that the former government overstepped in the handling of negotiations, and this is unacceptable. Going forward, this has to be addressed,” said Dinn. “To know that the Conservative’s refused to work with other members of the House in creation of the independent oversight panel, refused to be transparent about the process of selection, and now to continue to hear that they are refusing to bring panel members in to answer questions on the report is not inspiring confidence.”
“Why is it always a fight with PCs and Liberals for true transparency? People in this province need to be the beneficiaries of whatever deal is done. I am not sure if either Liberal or Conservative government can get it done without partisan theatrics.”