Fortunately for the employees of College of the North Atlantic – Qatar campus - education minister Darin King always says exactly what he means:
"It's not their issue or their fault as to why the college made an error and entered into an agreement that they ought not to have. So we'll honour the contracts," King said.
Well, no. Apparently, the minister doesn’t have enough information yet to determine what happened. As a result, it’s too soon to know if the money will be written off.
Unfortunately for those employees, Darin King said exactly what he meant on Thursday, too:
I could easily do, Mr. Speaker, what the Leader of the NDP wanted me to do three or four days ago; washed my hands of it, abdicate my responsibility, walk away, pretend it never happened, write-off the $5 million and perhaps do as my colleague the Minister of Tourism would say, add it to the NDP debt clock. I could have done that or I could have done what the Leader of the Liberal Party asked me to do which was the complete opposite.
Well, Mr. Speaker, we are taking a responsible action here and when we determine what exactly has transpired here, and when we determine the appropriate actions that need to be taken; we will take them. Until such a time as we have the information to draw the appropriate conclusions; I am not prepared to stand here and speculate for a bit of political posturing on the other side of the House. [Emphasis added]
Fortunately, Darin says they can keep their current contracts, and the pay along with it, until they renegotiate or leave their current position whichever comes first:
“At that time we will make sure the salary and compensation package that’s offered is the one that’s approved, not the one that was offered in error,” King said.
Unfortunately, King told that to the Western Star before he said he didn’t have enough information to figure out what “appropriate actions” need to be taken.
Oh well, at least Darin thinks he’s been clear in everything he’s said.
-srbp-