When pins drop

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/06/2015 (3832 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are few moments in the legislative assembly when you can actually hear a pin drop.

The afternoon of June 18 was one of them.

It happened during an exchange (page 1998) in question period between Opposition Leader Brian Pallister and Premier Greg Selinger.

Pallister’s question centered on a proposed deal between the province and the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council (IRTC) over the purchase of Tiger Dams, tubes that are quickly filled with water to protect homes in floods instead of sandbags.

That deal never happened. The IRTC instead purchased the Tiger Dams using $5 million provided by Ottawa. That deal is now under review, and the federal department that headed it up (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada) isn’t commenting.

In a nutshell, the issue raised by Pallister was whether the premier supported Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton in the province buying the flood fighting equipment for IRTC without it going to tender to find the lowest bidder.

The allegation was raised by an unknown whistleblower in a complaint made to the province’s ombudsman under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

Pallister: “Now, the whistle-blower said there was a serious and aggressive attempt by the premier’s office to circumvent the process. Why did he do that, Mr. Speaker? I submit he did. Why did he try to circumvent the treasury board process of our province and put Manitobans’ best interests on the back burner yet again?”

Selinger: “Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition is just simply wrong on the facts. I was the one that wanted a full review by treasury board of anything that was going to eventuate as a result of the commitment to provide additional flood protection equipment to the people in the Interlake. Treasury board did its job. It made its recommendations.

“There was a discussion on that, and I followed up and required that we do it by a tendered process, Mr. Speaker, and that was the process that we took. And it’s an important process because we do have to make sure that things are done properly.”

It was around this moment the pin dropped.

What was also curious was how a few front-bench NDP MLAs dipped their heads and stared at the floor at the same moment.

Of the former ministers who resigned last November in protest of Selinger’s leadership, ex-finance minister Jennifer Howard turned in her chair away from the premier. Ex-health minister Erin Selby sitting beside Howard did almost the same. It seemed something on the wall had caught her attention.

Nearby ex-justice minister Andrew Swan and ex-municipal government minister Stan Struthers sat expressionless, even stoic. Ex-jobs and the economy minister Theresa Oswald, sitting behind Ashton, was emotionless.

Multiple sources have told the Free Press than one of the reasons the five resigned was about how the premier handled the Tiger Tube issue. 

It was a weird moment in the house that day, one that’s not easy to shake off.

“All the premier has done today is state that he supported a tendering process when there is no other evidence except his word and, given his record, I submit to him that that is questionable quality of evidence,” Pallister said a few minutes later.

Throughout this story, Selinger’s handlers have been quick to point out perceived flaws in the reporting of this story, like a word they didn’t like, and the opposition’s interpretation and spin of it.

They have also been quick to release correspondence to the media that to them show the province handled everything correctly.

They also released this to Free Press columnist Dan Lett:

“On Thursday evening (June 18), a spokesman for the premier’s office said the untendered Tiger Dam contract first reached Treasury Board Oct. 6. It was not recommended for approval.

“That decision went on to a cabinet meeting on October 8, the spokesman said. At that meeting, the premier decided not to approve the treasury board recommendation but did commit to studying Ashton’s proposal a bit more.

“In the case of the Tiger Dam contract, cabinet dissidents became concerned about the premier’s refusal to curb Ashton’s bid to secure an untendered contract. Particularly because Ashton had close relationships with at least two of the parties involved in the deal.

“Treasury board had already said no to an untendered contract for the portable dams. However, when the treasury board “minute” was submitted to cabinet for final approval, it was “held,” or put over for a final decision at a later date. This was done, government sources have confirmed, at Selinger’s insistence.”

Lett later wrote this:

“A spokesman for the premier has subsequently said on the day after that minute was held, the premier told clerk of the executive council Milton Sussman to direct the ministry of infrastructure and transportation, and the treasury board, to organize a tender for the portable dams.”

“The problem with that version of events is that, according to multiple government sources, Selinger failed to inform anyone that he had killed Ashton’s hopes for an untendered contract. That kept alive the idea that Selinger was trying to aid Ashton in his ethically questionable goal.”

Hence the whistleblower’s complaint to the ombudsman? 

What’s also somewhat odd about this, as things have unfolded over the past week or so, is that the CBC was working on the same story before it was reported in the Free Press. It appears they have their own sources. 

Odder still, Pallister’s Progressive Conservatives also seem to have been working on this story over the past few weeks, if not longer. They were able to file six freedom of information requests, and get replies, seemingly before the story first broke.

Who are their sources?

They seem to know more about this than they’re letting on.