Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 25/01) - The wandering gaze of a conflict-of-interest investigation has widened to include the premier's office.

Premier Stephen Kakfwi on Monday accepted Jane Groenewegen's resignation as deputy premier as atonement for secretly recording a phone call the cabinet's principal secretary, John Bayly, made to the conflict of interest commissioner.

Cabinet minister Jane Groenewegen (left) listens intently Sunday to the special committee appointed to assess her bias complaint against the conflict of interest commissioner. The committee is also now looking into Groenewegen's clandestine taping of a conversation with the commissioner. - Richard Gleeson/NNSL photo

The call was made March 26 as part of an effort to collect evidence to support the unprecedented allegations of bias Groenewegen had levelled against commissioner Carol Roberts.

Kakfwi announced Groenewegen's resignation as deputy premier - and his acceptance of it - in a statement three hours into Monday's special sitting of the legislative assembly.

"It's been addressed and resolved to my satisfaction," the premier said in a later interview.

The assembly felt otherwise. In a 9-8 vote it ordered the special committee appointed to assess Groenewegen's bias charge to also consider the circumstances surrounding the recording.

The committee was also charged with concluding its investigation of the bias allegation despite the fact that Groenewegen has withdrawn a request to have the commissioner fired for it.

MLAs said it is unacceptable to leave the allegation hanging, considering Groenewegen continues to maintain the commissioner is biased.

"This goes right to the very core of credibility in this house and the officers who are appointed by it," said Joe Handley, the lone cabinet minister to support continuing the committee.

Notice of the withdrawal of the application to have the commissioner fired came from Groenewegen's lawyer in a letter written last Wednesday, a day after the committee requested a copy of the tape.

Urging from Kakfwi and other cabinet ministers to drop the matter was met Monday with cries of "coverup" from regular MLAs during three hours of debate over whether the committee should continue.

Thebacha MLA and committee member Michael Miltenberger set the tone of Monday's debate at an eleventh-hour meeting of the committee the day before, calling the taping tactic "unethical and immoral."

At the same meeting and again on Monday, Miltenberger alleged that Kakfwi and his chief of staff, Lynda Sorensen, attempted to "infuence the process."

Miltenberger refused to offer any evidence to substantiate the allegation. "All I can say is stay tuned," he said.

Groenewegen and Bayly have refused to discuss the recording, saying they do not want to interfere with the committee's investigation. Kakfwi had the same response Monday when asked if he knew in advance of the plot.

The premier would say only that letters of reprimand had been sent to the staff involved.

The tape was turned over to the legislative assembly Friday. Miltenberger has said he wants to hear all conversations on the tape. Committee chair Brendan Bell agrees.

"I think we're going to have to go through the whole tape to determine if there's context outside the specific phone conversation, if there are other conversations in regard to this case and this process we're embarking on," Bell said.

The Yellowknife South MLA said the committee will continue its hearings in September.