[Update: CBC has provided audio of Question Period in the House of Assembly. This one is a ram file for Monday's QP. The Hansard transcript can be found at the House of Assembly website, in case you want to follow along.]
According to vocm.com, the Premier developed a concern today about the propriety of asking questions related to the Cameron Inquiry:
Following questioning from Opposition House Leader Kelvin Parsons on what other government officials may have already been subpoenaed, Williams asked the Department of Justice to seek guidance from the Cameron Inquiry as to whether questions pertaining to the ongoing inquiry should be answered in the House.
Other media have reported the same basic idea.
That conversion on the road to Damascus lasted only long enough for the Premier to turn up on Out of the Fog on Tuesday evening to discuss...wait for it...the Inquiry and, among other things related to it, the testimony of some of his former ministers.
Out of the Fog is the local Rogers community access channel show.
No word so far on what Madame Justice Margaret Cameron's answer to the query or if the query has even been relayed.
As with Day One, the Premier played many parts and displayed different moods. He displayed agitation when asked about the number of people with government who have received subpoenas to testify at the Cameron Inquiry.
The Premier also got a bit annoyed with suggestions that the head of the Cameron Inquiry liaison team (CILT) might be in a conflict of interest since he was involved in handling the issue in his capacity as Clerk of the Executive Council up to last year when he was appointed to head the liaison team and serve as acting deputy health minister.
It will be interesting to see what Madame Justice Cameron responds to the question about public comment on her inquiry. After all, if she says nothing or declines to direct the Premier, he will take that as a green light to say what he wishes. If she points out that ministers should be restrained in their comments, that will be an excuse to say little if anything in answer to questions that the Cameron Inquiry may not ask.
Then again, the Premier reminded everyone yesterday he is a lawyer and tends to think of these issues differently from other people. If that was really the case, then he would have refrained from commenting much earlier - like say before Day One - and kept his ministers in check much earlier. If the gags go on now, people might wonder why it is that he suddenly remembered legal niceties only after he'd finished saying what he wanted to say.
-srbp-
