Senior government officials who signed off on a problematic $950,000 loan to the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I. for e-gaming should be reprimanded or suspended, say Progressive Conservative MLAs and Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker.
During a meeting of the public accounts committee Wednesday, MLAs zeroed in on numerous concerns Auditor General Jane MacAdam has raised about the way this loan was handled.
Bevan-Baker asked MacAdam to name those still working for government who were involved in approving this loan.
She named three senior government officials:
- Neil Stewart, executive director of Island Investment Development Inc. (IIDI) at that time, now deputy minister of economic development and tourism;
- Micheal Mayne, former deputy minister of innovation and advanced learning and chairman of the IIDI board at the time, now CEO of Health P.E.I.;
- Doug Clow, a former deputy minister of finance and board member of IIDI at the time, currently vice-chairman of the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission.
This loan made up the lion’s share of the $1.5 million in taxpayer money spent on e-gaming.
MacAdam flagged several problems with this loan, notably in the way it was approved.
The Mi’kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I. (MCPEI) requested the $950,000 loan in October 2011, but provided virtually no security. Instead, former finance minister Wes Sheridan provided a letter of guarantee for the loan saying, “in the event of default by MCPEI, the Department of Finance accepts responsibility for the ultimate repayment of this loan to IIDI.”
“This letter of guarantee was a major factor in the board of IIDI approving this loan,” MacAdam says in her report.
But a letter of guarantee like this must be approved by treasury board and executive council. Neither approved this loan guarantee.
MacAdam says Sheridan and all board members of IIDI should have known this loan was being approved based on a guarantee that did not have proper authorization, which was a violation of the Financial Administration Act.
“Basically, in layman’s terms, they broke the law, that’s what that means. Violating an act is breaking the law,” Bevan-Baker said Wednesday.
That’s why he asked for the names of those involved who are still working for government.
They should be held accountable for their actions, he said.
“This is just the latest version of people in high levels of government – both elected and unelected – violating laws, twisting rules and regulations in a manner that they can accomplish whatever they want to accomplish,” Bevan-Baker said after the meeting.
“We have to make sure we don’t allow this again.”
Opposition Leader Jamie Fox is demanding Mayne, Stewart and Clow be immediately suspended for having “broken the law.”
“Under Section 76 of the Financial Administration Act, the finance minister is empowered to suspend from their employment officials who had knowledge of the violation of any law relating to the disbursement of public money,” Fox said in a statement Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the premier’s office said government is committed to acting swiftly on all 15 of MacAdam’s recommendations.
But she made no mention of suspending Mayne, Stewart or Clow.
“As stated within the report, the guarantee letter was signed by the former minister of finance to facilitate funding for the project,” the premier’s spokeswoman said.
“This government has indicated that this is not the way that we do business. This includes ensuring government departments do not guarantee security for any provincial loans.”
Meanwhile, PC MLA Brad Trivers successfully passed a motion to call other key players in e-gaming to testify at committee: businessmen Paul Jenkins and Garth Jenkins; former deputy minister Melissa MacEachern and Chris LeClair, former chief of staff to former premier Robert Ghiz who later worked as a consultant for the law firm McInnes Cooper.
Senior government officials who signed off on a problematic $950,000 loan to the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I. for e-gaming should be reprimanded or suspended, say Progressive Conservative MLAs and Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker.
During a meeting of the public accounts committee Wednesday, MLAs zeroed in on numerous concerns Auditor General Jane MacAdam has raised about the way this loan was handled.
Bevan-Baker asked MacAdam to name those still working for government who were involved in approving this loan.
She named three senior government officials:
- Neil Stewart, executive director of Island Investment Development Inc. (IIDI) at that time, now deputy minister of economic development and tourism;
- Micheal Mayne, former deputy minister of innovation and advanced learning and chairman of the IIDI board at the time, now CEO of Health P.E.I.;
- Doug Clow, a former deputy minister of finance and board member of IIDI at the time, currently vice-chairman of the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission.
This loan made up the lion’s share of the $1.5 million in taxpayer money spent on e-gaming.
MacAdam flagged several problems with this loan, notably in the way it was approved.
The Mi’kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I. (MCPEI) requested the $950,000 loan in October 2011, but provided virtually no security. Instead, former finance minister Wes Sheridan provided a letter of guarantee for the loan saying, “in the event of default by MCPEI, the Department of Finance accepts responsibility for the ultimate repayment of this loan to IIDI.”
“This letter of guarantee was a major factor in the board of IIDI approving this loan,” MacAdam says in her report.
But a letter of guarantee like this must be approved by treasury board and executive council. Neither approved this loan guarantee.
MacAdam says Sheridan and all board members of IIDI should have known this loan was being approved based on a guarantee that did not have proper authorization, which was a violation of the Financial Administration Act.
“Basically, in layman’s terms, they broke the law, that’s what that means. Violating an act is breaking the law,” Bevan-Baker said Wednesday.
That’s why he asked for the names of those involved who are still working for government.
They should be held accountable for their actions, he said.
“This is just the latest version of people in high levels of government – both elected and unelected – violating laws, twisting rules and regulations in a manner that they can accomplish whatever they want to accomplish,” Bevan-Baker said after the meeting.
“We have to make sure we don’t allow this again.”
Opposition Leader Jamie Fox is demanding Mayne, Stewart and Clow be immediately suspended for having “broken the law.”
“Under Section 76 of the Financial Administration Act, the finance minister is empowered to suspend from their employment officials who had knowledge of the violation of any law relating to the disbursement of public money,” Fox said in a statement Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the premier’s office said government is committed to acting swiftly on all 15 of MacAdam’s recommendations.
But she made no mention of suspending Mayne, Stewart or Clow.
“As stated within the report, the guarantee letter was signed by the former minister of finance to facilitate funding for the project,” the premier’s spokeswoman said.
“This government has indicated that this is not the way that we do business. This includes ensuring government departments do not guarantee security for any provincial loans.”
Meanwhile, PC MLA Brad Trivers successfully passed a motion to call other key players in e-gaming to testify at committee: businessmen Paul Jenkins and Garth Jenkins; former deputy minister Melissa MacEachern and Chris LeClair, former chief of staff to former premier Robert Ghiz who later worked as a consultant for the law firm McInnes Cooper.
