by Paul MacNeill
Two major files consistently grate Islanders the wrong way: land holdings by major corporations and the size, scope and salaries of the public service.
Public anger is driven by secrecy and an abdication of leadership from the provincial government. In this vacuum, especially on the land file, speculation and rumour are spun as fact.
You can blame former Premier Pat Binns for the black box that hides who works for government, how much they are paid and what do they do. His government passed the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act a quarter century ago. It’s been an unmitigated disaster from day one.
And last week we saw what can happen when governments hide behind bureaucratic decisions. Former Health PEI CEO Michael Gardam sidestepped provincial hiring requirements to give key members of his leadership team massive raises that soar far above the allowable range.
It wouldn’t matter if a communications officer worked for the King of England, $50,000 more than the provincial classification system allows – a salary basically equal to the premier’s – is impossible to justify.
Gardam says he didn’t know the rules, an easy excuse for a system without the proper checks and balances.
The PEI government is easily one of the most secretive in the country. Even a modest sunshine list – an annual list of public servants who earn a salary above a legislated threshold – would have picked up these abuses. This information is routinely released annually in virtually every Canadian jurisdiction – except PEI.
Our provincial budget has soared to more than $3 billion dollars, with salaries and benefits being by far the largest cost. But we have no idea who works for government, what they do and what salary they are paid.
In the absence of provincial leadership, land continues to be a lightning rod driven by social media pretenders more interested in self-promotion, half-truths and innuendo than solutions.
These chirpers differ from residents who take the time to read documents, show up to all meetings and challenge assumptions. We may not agree, but good policy is found in the middle of differing views.
At a planning meeting recently one speaker wondered if Three Rivers planning board and council were ‘compromised.’ This is just a fancy way to publicly question, without a scintilla of proof, that local politicians and volunteers are on the take.
It’s harmful and a pathetic attempt to score a winning applause line.
If you’ve got evidence of wrongdoing, hand it over to the RCMP. Maybe then the public can differentiate fact from social media fiction.
It is a moral imperative for the King government to bring transparency to land ownership once and for all. It must enforce amendments made to the Lands Protection Act that supposedly eliminate a massive loophole allowing one corporation to control another to effectively break legislated land ownership limits.
In the absence of government transparency, public perception is driven by speculation. For every day the premier sits on his hands, he is allowing communities to be ripped apart and many Islanders to be unfairly targeted.
How much hate will Premier King tolerate before he demands – through legislation if necessary – that the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission release its 2018 report on land holdings of Buddhist nuns, monks and laity? Will he demand the report be updated to include associated corporations? And will he extend this investigation to other major landowners, including the Irvings?
Land ownership is a provincial responsibility. It falls to newly minted Housing Minister Steven Myers to find a fix…if government – and it’s a big if – has the courage to do what is right.
CBC’s Kerry Campbell reported last week that Irving corporations collectively own more than 12,000 acres. Whether these entities can all be defined as associated is unclear.
This is exactly why government must test the amendments it passed. Changing the LPA without enforcement is a recipe for abuse.
We need better. Secrecy is the rot at the foundation of our provincial democracy.
We need facts, not fiction. Leadership, not cowardice.
We need civility, not hate.
It’s the only way to grow an Island community that all Islanders can be proud to be part of.
Paul MacNeill is Publisher of Island Press Limited. He can be contacted at paul@peicanada.com