SayVille
From Mr. Shaw of the VSun's twittmachine feed:
From Mr. Shaw's latest piece in the VSun:
...Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond was “highly disrespectful” by releasing a child welfare report on her website last Thursday before the required practice of having the Speaker table it in the legislature, Speaker Linda Reid warned in the house and in a letter Tuesday.
“As an Officer of the Legislature, your decision to proceed with a premature disclosure of this report prior to a formal tabling in the Legislative Assembly was an egregious action, disrespectful and inconsistent with your position’s statutory reporting relationship with the Legislature and a contempt of Parliament,” Reid wrote.
The extraordinary public rebuke didn’t sit well with Turpel-Lafond, who said she tried to get her report – which criticized the ministry’s recent handling of a review by retired deputy Bob Plecas – introduced into the House, only to hear at the last minute it couldn’t be accommodated due to the morning question period schedule...
{snip}
... To complicate matters, someone tipped off the Ministry of Children and Family Development about the sensitive report within minutes of the representative’s office first mentioning the document to the Speaker’s office on Tuesday, April, 26, said Turpel-Lafond. She said that leak could only have come from the Speaker’s office.
“Well, the Ministry of Children and Families director of communications called my office within three minutes and said, ‘What is the report?’ So I don’t know who else would have done it. It’s awkward because there are occasions, and this is one of them, when I need to have a report released,” said Turpel-Lafond...
{snip again}
...“Words like contempt are usually reserved for cases of bribery or treason or serious crimes against the legislature. I’m just trying to do my job and stand up for kids.” (said Turpel-Lafond)...
The header at the top of this post is all mine.
______
What, exactly did Mr. Ted Hughes NOT say back in the days of yore?....Well....This.
Of course, Ron Obvious had something quite different to say more recently...
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4 comments:
Your header at the top of the post says it all Ross .
In my opinion Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond is the hardest working civil servant in BC. Her being set up and called out by the Speaker of the House - Linda Reid is beyond the pale.
I have no respect for Linda Reid. Having watched her a few times on the Legislature proceedings, I'm convinced she is not impartial. And I suggest this latest move came from orders in the Minister's office.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond cannot be replaced but I'm sure when her term is up in November, the Liberal gang will not ask her to stay.
Guy in Victoria
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond is not in contempt of anything. However, my contempt for Linda Reid and the rest of the B.C. Lieberals knows no bounds. They have treated the children of this province, the ones they are responsible for in a manner, that if the children were animals, they the B.C. Lieberals would have been charged by the SPCA. They had 4 children die in care. There are over 100 homeless children in Victoria. What ever report was written by the B.C. Lieberal hanger on, isn't worth the paper its written on.
Mary Ellen Turple-Lafond did the only thing she could. If there was "no time" on the agenda you can bet it would have been buried. Christy is in re-election mode and even the MSM has been known to report on the mistreatment of the children of this province. Who knows the Globe and Mail might have reported on it.
Well Ms. Turple-Lafond has sent a message to the government, she will not be silenced. it is her job to advocate for the children of this province and that is her first job. Linda Reid can take her fat ass off to where ever and examine it, because in my personal opinion, that is where her brains are, for writing what she did.
Linda Reid must be using former speaker Bill Barisoff's crib sheets:
Protocol holds that the auditor general works for the legislature, so the Speaker gets the first look at his reports. Improper sharing of reports could be considered anything from a transgression to a cardinal sin.
Barisoff, not known for his grasp of the optics, chose the sin interpretation and took the unprecedented step Tuesday of refusing to make Doyle’s report public.
“Concerns have been raised in relation to the premature disclosure of the auditor general’s carbon report,” Barisoff said in a statement.
“Since a breach of parliament may have occurred, the report will not be distributed until the Speaker has concluded his discussions with the auditor general.”
A breach of parliamentary privilege is a very big deal, particularly when it’s the Speaker raising the issue.
There's always the appearance, a leeway, on the part of the Speaker to sit on reports to suit the ruling party's game plans, of course, leaks do happen.....
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