Premier exercises poor judgment
Appointment of deputy minister of finance undermines public confidence in ability to govern
Premier Wade MacLauchlan assured Islanders he would restore public confidence in government by being “open and transparent” and governing with the highest possible ethical standards. Well, appointing Neil Stewart as deputy minister of finance pretty much puts the kibosh to that promise. Why? Two reasons.
First: When the previous auditor general (Colin Younker) investigated PNP back in 2009, he reported that Neil Stewart, who was the director of Island Investment Development Inc. (IIDI), and running the PNP at the time, “broke rules” and “made up new rules” without first obtaining the required approval of the IIDI board. Younker noted: “A review of the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors confirmed that program changes, policies, and approvals were not discussed or approved at the board level.”
Younker later told members of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts that, “In some cases Neil might make the change. Sometimes instruction might come from the deputy.” The deputy (Neil’s boss) was Brooke MacMillan.
One such change allowed ‘bed and breakfast’ owners to access PNP funds. Brooke happened to own a bed and breakfast, so he immediately applied for (and received) PNP money. After this became public, thenpremier Robert Ghiz was forced to insist Brooke repay the money, along with PNP money that his wife received.
As the person in charge of the PNP during the program’s most scandalous period, Neil Stewart was clearly complicit in unethical PNP decisions and actions, and acted without proper authorization from his board.
Ghiz should have disciplined or dismissed Neil, but he rewarded him by appointing him CEO and chair of the board of IIDI instead.
Secondly: After the e-gaming scandal became public knowledge it was learned that Neil Stewart signed off on an extremely problematic $950,000 loan to the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of P.E.I. back in 2011, along with Michael Mayne (who replaced Brooke MacMillan as deputy minister) and Doug Clow (an IIDI board member at the time, now vice-chair of IRAC).
The new auditor general, Jane MacAdam, noted in her investigation of e-gaming that although the $950,000 loan had been “guaranteed” by former minister of finance Wes Sheridan, it did not have the required cabinet approval which would have generated an order-in-council, thereby making it a public document. She then felt it necessary to point out that: “It is reasonable to expect that . . . the executive director of IIDI (Neil Stewart) should be familiar with the authorization requirements for guarantees outlined in Treasury Board policy on Loans and Guarantees and the Financial Administration Act.”
This loan approval resulted in the loss of nearly $1 million of taxpayers’ money: with no loan security, the MacLauchlan government was forced to ‘write off’ the entire amount last year.
PC MLAs and Peter Bevan-Baker unanimously called for senior officials like Neil Stewart to be either “reprimanded” or “suspended” for his part in approving the e-gaming loan, but instead, the premier has given even more control of P.E.I.’s finances to Neil by appointing him deputy minister of finance.
Immediately after MacLauchlan became premier he removed Brooke MacMillan as CEO of the P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission and appointed an ethics commissioner saying: “It is in the public interest to maintain and strengthen public confidence that the work of the government is being conducted with integrity and to the highest ethical standards.”
Unfortunately, appointing Neil Stewart as deputy minister of finance renders MacLauchlan’s words completely disingenuous and further undermines public confidence in his ability to govern responsibly.