A showdown between the NDP and opposition parties is set for this morning, when the Liberals will try to drag the premier in front of the Public Accounts Committee for questioning.
At issue is the 281 business documents the government withheld from the auditor general. Liberal MLA Keith Colwell will present motions to have the committee subpoena the documents. Colwell, supported by the Tories, also wants Premier Darrell Dexter to appear before the committee and answer questions on the matter.
But the NDP have a majority of committee members and the motions are highly unlikely to pass. NDP MLA Leonard Preyra called the Liberal motions a “silly bit of grandstanding.”
Preyra said the government fully intends to hand over the documents, but they first need to pass new legislation so that doing so doesn’t breach cabinet confidentiality rules.
“They know that the government and the auditor general both want the same thing, which is essentially to get (him) these documents quickly,” said Preyra.
But Colwell is trying to frame the vote in a different light. “If it doesn’t happen it shows they’re not going to be transparent about this whole thing, period,” he said.
