Chronicle Herald: NDP kills opposition bid to subpoena documents
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
Liberal member Keith Colwell asked the committee to subpoena the documents if government refused to hand them over voluntarily.
In voting down Colwell’s motion, New Democrat Leonard Preyra told the committee that they were not in disagreement on the principle at stake.
“The government really does want to work with the auditor general and give him all of the files he needs to complete his audit,” said Preyra.
He said the government would introduce legislation in the fall to protect cabinet confidentiality and solicitor-client privilege, as well as the office of the auditor general against third-party claims.
“We shouldn’t just deal with it because of some political posturing or grandstanding,” said Preyra. “These are important principles and they need to be discussed in a rational, logical way.”
Colwell said his party accepted and would likely support government’s proposal to introduce legislation to that effect this fall.
But he said he was still looking for a show of good faith.
“I’m not convinced that the government is as committed to providing the information as it claims,” said Colwell.
“I think government has taken a very poor position on this and this information should be provided immediately to the auditor general.”
Tory Cecil Clarke joined Colwell in pushing for action.
“This is about the government taking the lead to show Nova Scotians, whose trust has been shaken in the very institution of government, to show goodwill and that we are moving forward,” said Clarke.
“It’s still not impossible for the government to do the right thing in the interim and show some co-operation.”
Colwell’s second motion, to subpoena Premier Darrell Dexter to testify before the committee, was also voted down by the government majority.