Houston says Review is "Cover Your Ass Politics"
Today, the federal and provincial governments announced a three member review panel would look into the who, what, and why of the circumstances that led to the death of twenty-two Nova Scotians last April in Canada’s worst mass murder.
If you will pardon the expression, the reviews are in and they are not good for either government.
Nova Scotia’s Conservative leader did not pull any punches in his condemnation of the review process. Tim Houston said, “This review is a complete and utter abdication of responsibility by two separate levels of government. This is ‘cover your ass’ politics at its worst.”
Family, friends, and neighbours of the victims have repeatedly called for an open public inquiry, a process that would be conducted like an open court where the public could watch and, perhaps take part.
Houston says, “No reasonable person will see this as anything other than an attempt to deliver the answers that the government wants - rather than those that grieving Nova Scotians deserve.”
In announcing the review, Nova Scotia’s Attorney General said he met with grieving family members over the last few days to advise them of the plan. But yesterday, many of them took part in a protest rally in Truro demanding just the opposite of what Mark Furey announced.
Houston attended that rally and said, “No one was marching for a review.”
Furey and his federal colleague, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, heaped great praise on the three panel members selected to conduct the review. Each has vast experience, integrity, and capacity, but reporters in a press conference were not concerned about the panelists, they questioned the process.
Questioned for nearly an hour on the failure to call a public inquiry, both ministers simply kept repeating their praise for the quality of the individual panel members, while refusing to acknowledge the review cannot measure-up to a full-fledged public inquiry.
The provincial Tory leader says, “This review cannot compel testimony, it ensures recommendations are non-binding and toothless, and that information and materials gathered for the review can be kept confidential.”
Houston added, “Nova Scotians should be angry, not only because they have been cheated out of an inquiry that is essential to getting answers, but because their Premier and Prime Minister are attempting to fool them into thinking this direction is in their best interest.”
NDP Leader Gary Burrill says, “It is hurtful and disappointing that the Independent Review Panel falls so far short of the full-fledged public inquiry which has been called for by the families of those whose lives were taken in the mass shootings of April 18-19."
Burrill added, “A public inquiry would have the authority and power to compel the testimony of witnesses under oath. In comparison to the full-fledged public inquiry that has been called for, the Review Panel is constrained in both openness and scope.”
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