Bruce Chaulk suspended as chief electoral officer; investigation underway into Elections N.L.
Independent review underway into report on Elections N.L.
Newfoundland and Labrador has suspended Bruce Chaulk from his duties as chief electoral officer and commissioner of legislative standards.
In a press release Tuesday, the province's executive council said the provincial government has accepted the recommendation of the House of Assembly Management Commission to suspend Chaulk based on allegations raised at Elections N.L.
"The suspension will be in effect until an independent review of the findings of the citizens' representative regarding allegations raised at Elections N.L. is completed," reads the release.
Chaulk has been suspended with pay, according to Justice Minister John Hogan.
Effective immediately, Travis Wooley, who was previously the assistant chief electoral officer, is the acting chief electoral officer, and Ann Chafe, who recently retired from her role as commissioner of the Public Service Commission, is the acting commissioner of legislative standards.
Elections N.L. declined to comment when contacted by CBC News on Tuesday.
Statutory offices — including the chief electoral officer, commissioner of legislative standards, the citizens' representative, seniors' advocate, child and youth advocate, auditor general, and information and privacy commissioner — operate independently from government and report to the House of Assembly.
The executive council said it has referred the full, unredacted citizens' representative's report to the House of Assembly Management Commission, which is made up of members of the three political parties and is responsible for overseeing the administration of the statutory offices.
Liberal opposition hopes for speedy review
Hogan told reporters Tuesday he has read the citizens' representative's report but wouldn't speak to any of its contents.
"There are certain reasons why a chief electoral officer can be suspended, and [misconduct] would be one of the reasons as outlined in this legislation."
"It's very clear, very obvious, that this is a human resources issue related to an individual's employment, and allegations made against that individual. So to respect his privacy, and respect the privacy of others who were involved and might be named in that report, we can't publicly talk about that."
Hogan said there isn't a timeline for the report to be released publicly, as redactions need to be made to protect the privacy of people mentioned in the report.
In May, Independent MHA Paul Lane and interim Progressive Conservative Leader David Brazil alleged Speaker of the House Derek Bennett was hiding a report accusing an officer of the House of workplace bullying and harassment.
Lane told reporters a constituent contacted him directly about an alleged whistleblower report regarding a senior official and toxic workplace culture at Elections Newfoundland and Labrador. At the time he said the report had been submitted to the Office of the Citizens' Representative two months earlier.
Interim NDP Leader Jim Dinn said Tuesday he wishes the report could have been acted upon as soon as it hit the speaker's desk, but sees the suspension as an important move in regaining the public's trust.
"It sat on someone's desk, the speaker's desk, for what? Three, four months?" Dinn said. "The people who had made the complaint, who were still working with the person who was alleged to have done harassment, were probably left wondering what happened to it?"
Brazil is glad the suspension came down Tuesday as the party has called for action on the report for months. Now that the management committee is moving forward, he hopes a review will be a quick turnaround.
Once the report is sent back to the management commission, it can be done in a matter of a week turnaround for their review. Then they would make a set of recommendations," Brazil said from Goose Bay. "Our members do want to move this in a timely fashion."
With files from Mark Quinn