Economic recovery team 'clouded in secrecy,' says N.L. labour leader
NAPE president says meeting with task force chair raised 'red flag'
The president of Newfoundland and Labrador's largest union is eyeing the province's economic recovery team with suspicion after a fellow labour leader dropped out of the task force this week, saying his own recent meeting with the team's chair was a rocky one.
Jerry Earle, head of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE), characterized the team's operating mandate as raising a "red flag."
According to Earle, the recovery team's activities are "clouded in secrecy. It should be open and transparent," he said. "This is anything but."
Earle's concerns echo those of Mary Shortall, N.L. Federation of Labour president, who stepped down from the task force Tuesday.
"I was not confident that all perspectives were being considered or appreciated," Shortall told CBC News. "It must be real collaboration and consultation, not simply window dressing."
Membership on the team — one of Premier Andrew Furey's flagship creations since winning the leadership election in August — requires signing a non-disclosure agreement.
It's led by Moya Greene, the former CEO of the U.K.'s Royal Mail and a past head of Canada Post, and is tasked with issuing non-binding recommendations to the government on how it may improve its fiscal outlook. An interim report on its progress due to the province at the end of February.
Earle said he met last month with Greene. He called it "one of the worst or most difficult" meetings he's experienced, describing it as a perfunctory means to check off a box, rather than generate a productive discussion.
CBC provided a copy of Earle's interview to the premier's office Thursday and requested a response to Earle's allegations. A spokesperson for the office said Greene was not available for comment, and declined to confirm or deny his statements when asked directly about them.
Transparency a concern: Earle
Earle said as he arrived for his meeting with Greene in December, she and an aide asked him to keep their discussion confidential. "Immediately my response was, 'absolutely not,'" he said.
He said despite his refusal, he said Greene continued to speak for an hour, "to tell us her thoughts ... she talked about Newfoundlanders basically expecting too much and paying too little."
The discussion focused heavily on cuts, primarily to services in rural Newfoundland, he said. Greene has previously spoken publicly about the need to rein in spending.
In a keynote speech last November, Greene spoke at length about industry diversification as a means of boosting revenue. She also said at the time her review would focus on restructuring health-care and ferry services.
"Part of efficiency is helping people understand what something costs, the value of it," she said.
"The interprovincial ferry services in our country are a crucial part of connectivity to keep us together as a nation. But that doesn't change the fact that it's hugely important for people to know what things cost."
Earle takes issue with Greene's alleged dismissal of other means to balance the books, saying she leaned heavily, in their discussion, on what he calls austerity measures.
In their December conversation, "there was no reference to big business having to do more, no reference to oil companies having to do more," he said. "There was comments towards our public employees ... our education system."
Earle said the weight of the recovery team's recommendations should entail some level of transparency.
"We realize things gotta be looked at," he said.
"But we got the impression that ... things are going to be placed on the table that are gravely concerning ... without the people of Newfoundland and Labrador having any input."
With files from Newfoundland Morning and the St. John's Morning Show