In wake of Mitchelmore suspension, NDP and Tories vow to press for more answers
Cabinet minister Christopher Mitchelmore may have apologized to both the House of Assembly and the public, but opposition parties are questioning whether the Newfoundland and Labrador cabinet minister has learned anything from the saga.
As well, neither opposition party believes the matter is over.
The House voted late Thursday night to sanction the Liberal cabinet minister for his role in the hiring of longtime Liberal staffer Carla Foote into a vacant job at The Rooms. The salary for that position was unilaterally hiked to match what she had already been earning.
It was the last piece of business the House will deal with until it reopens in March.
The reprimand also included the suspension of Mitchelmore for two weeks without pay, formal written apologies to the House and The Rooms board of directors, and a meeting with the commissioner for legislative standards to review the Code of Conduct for members of the House of Assembly.
But NDP Leader Alison Coffin doesn't think Mitchelmore recognizes the gravity of his actions. "It was a bit of a truncated apology, for sure," she said. "Would've been nice to see something more substantial, and a recognition of his actual misdeeds."
Mitchelmore, who was silent for most of the four-day long debate, said Thursday night he "unequivocally" apologizes to the House and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, but left shortly after without answering questions.
Two of the three NDP members voted against the penalty, in a symbolic display.
"We thought maybe we needed to go a little bit further," Coffin said.
"We were very frustrated at the premier's lack of action. So on principle we stood and said, 'No, we don't support the motion,' even though it had some penalties."
The NDP had been pushing to have Mitchelmore removed from cabinet, but opposition parties don't have the power to make that happen.
Tory Leader Ches Crosbie, who also wanted Mitchelmore fired from cabinet, said he does feel some satisfaction with the punishment, but questions why Mitchelmore himself didn't support it.
"It's distressing to see that the member, Mr. Mitchelmore, voted against his own punishment and defied his own caucus, and voted against what the premier and everyone else around him were voting for," said Crosbie.
"In other words, what has he learned out of this?"
Most of the PC caucus refused to vote for it as well, in a symbolic display similar to the NDP.
Both Crosbie and Coffin say the matter isn't over, and Ball has committed to do a review of what happened, in order to prevent something similar from happening again.
Ball says he's looking to modernize the way public servants are moved around government.
"That is the big thing that I want to be able to do, is make sure that we can do it, do it appropriately, and do it in a very accountable way."
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