With the appointment of Justice Neil Robertson to the Court of Queen’s Bench, the NDP is calling for his initial report into issues with the Northern Village of Pinehouse to be made public.
“For years the people of Pinehouse have been trying to get the provincial government to shine a light on and help deal with important concerns they have with town council – how they have handled freedom of information requests as well as glaring financial irregularities,” said NDP Ethics and Democracy Critic David Forbes. “Justice Robertson was in charge of the inquiry into the matters with Pinehouse council and we thank him for his good work, but his appointment will only further delay getting to the bottom of this.”
Forbes has sent a letter to Minister Kaeding asking for Robertson’s initial report to be made public for the sake of transparency and accountability. He is also calling for the government to immediately follow through on its promise to “ensure the inquiry is continued and completed with minimal delay.”
The NDP has also called for the government to empower the Information and Privacy Commissioner to order documents, as the Commissioner has released 16 reports citing issues with the Village’s handling of Freedom-of-Information requests.
“The people of Pinehouse deserve some real and meaningful action here because so far they’ve been left in the dark,” Forbes said. “The government needs to appoint a replacement for Justice Roberts as soon as they can, and in the meantime, needs to release the report to the public now.”