Government questioned on why office space was leased for PERT
Premier Andrew Furey was asked Thursday to explain costs of about $86,000 incurred by the Premier’s Economic Recovery Team (PERT) — a volunteer team — for leasing office space and a residence.
An access to information request made by the Progressive Conservatives (PC) under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act has revealed that the provincial government paid $60,000 for an eight-month lease for office space leased for PERT in St. John’s, and $26,000 for an eight-month lease for a residence for Dame Moya Greene — who headed the team — when she was to visit St. John’s for work on the report from her home in the United Kingdom.
PC Opposition Leader David Brazil asked Furey in the House of Assembly Thursday about the costs.
“The people of this province forked over almost $100,000 for private office space and personal accommodations, at a time where every dollar counts,” Brazil said. “Can the premier explain to the people of this province why spending taxpayers’ money in this way was necessary when there is plenty of office space available in governmentowned buildings?”
Furey replied that while the work done by PERT was done on a volunteer basis, there were some costs incurred by the team doing its important work for the province.
“We believe that this was a good investment of our money for the results that we achieved to be able to find efficiencies, think outside the box, and present new ideas to the people of the province so that we can create a path forward,” Furey said.
The premier told media later that Dame Moya Greene was in the province doing consultations at times.
“She required a place to stay. We can’t forget that someone of this calibre was doing this for free, completely volunteer, so we did look after her accommodations while she was in the province,” he said. “She provided an incredible service to the province by putting together such a comprehensive report, free of charge, world-class talent. And it was important for us to cover her accommodations while she was here in the province.”
As for the office space Furey, said it is his understanding that there wasn’t a surplus of office space available within the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure at the time that would place the PERT team sufficiently away from government.
“We wanted them to go outside of government itself to remain as independent as possible,” he said. “I wanted this to be an outside-the-box approach.”
The PERT report released last month titled “The Big Reset” recommended blunt measures to deal with a crippling financial situation the province has gotten itself into from years of fiscal mismanagement.
It recommended sweeping actions including eliminating Nalcor Energy, reducing operating grants to Memorial University and regional health authorities, and privatizing or selling certain provincial assets, among many other suggestions that would get the province back on its financial feet.
Brazil said he believes the costs, that weren’t put to public tender, undermine the work of PERT.
“Given in the last year or so how much government space is available to be going out and paying over $60,000 to rent office space seems not in line with fiscal management,” Brazil said. “And the accommodations for Dame Moya Greene herself when we are not sure how often she was here.
“The whole world is using other modems to have discussions through, Zoom and all kinds of other pieces of technology, to spend nearly $100,000 with fiscal restraint being one of our focal points to ensure all of our monies are accounted for, becomes questionable.”