23 June 2006

The unnamed scandal: Day 3

Ok.

Here's the latest CBC online story on the scandal in the House of Assembly.

So far no one has been able to put a name on this one. The easiest way has always been to attach "-gate" to it, as in Watergate, Strippergate, Heidigate.

We could call this one Glacier-gate. No it has nothing to do with a local arena. Nor does it have anything to do with a large block of ice.

In this case, Glacier-gate would refer to the oddly slow way things have developed. Like when the story broke: the Premier had sufficient details on the morning he met with Ed Byrne.

For some reason he took a whole day to let the rest of us in on what happened. Official excuse: the Prem had to meet with the Speaker of the House and the Auditor General. Apparently these guys were busy so they told Danny to cool his jets. The AG apparently met with the Prem after Danny's call to a radio call-in show. That was a mere two hours before Danny told the media "immediately" and about six to seven hours after Danny got Ed's resignation.

But then he only told us part of it, hinted at some more and told us to wait until the next day when the Auditor General would say more.

Then the AG shows up almost 24 hours later, releases a one-pager with few details and goes on the interview circuit with plenty of claims but based on what he himself would have to admit is a far-from-complete investigation.

Then the matter gets turned to the police: two full days after the Premier first became aware of the issue.

All this over a matter every bit as serious as the Hollis Walker inquiry scandal in the 1920s (that's how far back we have to go in Newfoundland and Labrador to find something this shocking).

And the investigation has been proceeding like a snail on a glue pad.

So the thing is either a glacier...

Or maybe it is being run by the Admiral from Get Smart:

"Would someone give me a little push?"

All jokes aside, this is a serious issue. A bigger post dealing with the issue, how it's being handled and what needs to happen is on the way.