In defending the $140,000 –a-year patronage job she gave to former Tory candidate John Noseworthy, advanced skills minister Joan Burke told the House of Assembly:
Mr. Speaker, no one can argue that Mr. Noseworthy has a unique set of skills.
Indeed no one can make such an argument.
Former auditor general John Noseworthy doesn’t have any special skills at least, in this case.
He is an accountant with lots of experience as a provincial auditor. In that role, he has been known to make a few serious fumbles.
Everything that Burke said her department needed to help the department sort itself out could be had from a great many people out there. Some would be former provincial public servants here or from other provinces. Some would be former federal public servants and some would come from the private sector. What’s more, all of those people would know more about the core mandate of Burke’s department than than John Noseworthy.
Joan Burke is right.
No one can argue Noseworthy has a unique skill set.
He doesn’t.
And to her credit, at no point in her response to questions in the House did Burke actually say he did.
Looks like someone foisted the guy on Burke and she got stuck trying to defend someone else’s pork-barrel decision.
The clue is in what Joan didn’t say.
- srbp -
