No bonuses, no jobs: MHAs weigh in on Nalcor staff named in Muskrat Falls report
Premier Dwight Ball said bonuses should be taken back
Calls for resignation and the removal of bonuses for some Nalcor staff dominated the House of Assembly on Wednesday, a day after the Muskrat Falls inquiry report was made public by Justice Richard LeBlanc.
Progressive Conservative Leader Ches Crosbie asked why Nalcor CEO Stan Marshall continues to have faith in the Crown corporation's top brass to put the finishing touches on Muskrat Falls even after being named in LeBlanc's report for wrongdoing.
"I don't think anybody is indispensable. Even Mr. [current CEO Stan] Marshall is not indispensable. [Former CEO] Ed Martin was not indispensable," Crosbie told reporters.
"So I think, as premier, I would want to have a very tough conversation with Mr. Marshall to find out why, in his opinion, those people need to be kept."
Crosbie said the province deserves an apology from Martin for the issues outlined in the Muskrat report such as concealing "information that would undermine the business case reported to the public, to [the provincial government] and to Nalcor's board of directors."
Martin's name appears 46 times in the Muskrat Falls report's executive summary alone.
Crosbie is still distancing the hydroelectric project from his party. He hasn't called the project a mistake, but said it was a mistake not to examine the business case for it.
NDP Leader Alison Coffin wants a full review of government employment contracts, specifically of those who were named in the Muskrat Falls report.
She said she's surprised by the provincial government's response to being questioned about dismissing those employees if cause is found.
"Perhaps they have not reviewed the report in its entirety. But certainly we have some senior public servants being accused of wilful incompetence, misbehaviour, inexcusable acts," Coffin said.
"Somewhere along the way these people are still working in government, and still being responsible for the public purse."
Provincial Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady said the Liberals are going to be "diligent and prudent" in their decisions on people outlined in the report and the future of their jobs. Coady said Marshall is reviewing the report and will "make appropriate actions" based on it for Nalcor. She added the provincial government is doing the same.
"The one thing we want to make sure is that we do it properly and we do it well," she said.
"Let's make sure the right processes are in place so that we don't find ourselves making a misstep in this."
No more bonuses
Crosbie pressed the outgoing premier during question period about whether Nalcor staff will be receiving bonuses this year.
Ball said bonuses should be taken back.
"Now is providing the mechanism to allow that to happen. Nobody should be … being paid performance bonuses on work to get us in a situation like this," Ball said, but sharply pointed his finger back at the Progressive Conservatives, who sanctioned the project in 2012.
"We have been fixing it and the report says clearly after 2015 better oversight went in place. We replaced the CEO … and we are fixing the wrong of the PC government."
Candidates agree
So far, both John Abbott and Andrew Furey agree those named in the Muskrat Falls report, who remain in their positions in government or at Nalcor today, need to be held accountable.
Abbott and Furey are both running for leadership of the provincial Liberal Party, with the winner becoming Newfoundland and Labrador's next premier.
"I am calling for the immediate resignation or termination with cause of officials within Nalcor and the provincial government who have been named in the report as complicit in withholding information critical to the decision to sanction the project, starting with Nalcor vice-president Gilbert Bennett," Abbott said in a news release Wednesday afternoon.
"Nalcor CEO Stan Marshall saying he needs to keep these individuals to finish the project is very worrisome; surely we are not beholden to a couple of individuals with so much at stake."
Furey's news release on Wednesday morning took a softer approach but the overall theme remained the same as Abbott's.
"Mistakes were made and those responsible must be held accountable. If elected, I commit to implementing the recommendations made in the report and ensuring this never happens again," Furey said.
"I am committed to doing government differently. I will choose an open and transparent approach that makes evidence-based decisions."
With files from Peter Cowan and Anthony Germain