Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 07/01) - The special committee on conflict of interest came under fire from three of the four people it recommended be fired.

Conflict of interest commissioner Carol Roberts and, through their lawyers, John Bayly and Lynda Sorensen have submitted letters claiming they were treated unfairly by the special committee.

Committee chair Brendan Bell referred all questions about the letters to Speaker Tony Whitford because of pending legal action by Roberts. Whitford referred questions to law clerk Katherine Peterson. Peterson said she cannot comment on documents tabled in the legislative assembly.

Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee said though she released the letters, she will not be making an issue of them.

"My only objective was to get that into the public record for anyone who wanted to know about them," Lee said.

Sorensen and Bayly detailed what they saw as the committee's violation of the laws of natural justice and procedural fairness.

Roberts asserted the committee exceeded its mandate in conducting what amounted to a review of her performance based on her dealings with one MLA. Sorensen's lawyer advised there was no opportunity to ask a court to review the committee's findings.

"Your only recourse is the court of public opinion," wrote Sarah Kay.

The commissioner said she should be re-instated because the committee found no evidence she acted with bias.

Roberts' lawyer last week advised he was preparing a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal.

No competition required

A number of contracts for studies this year on hydro-electric generation, together amounting to about $600,000, were sole-sourced.

The practice of offering a contract to only one contractor is supposed to be used in exceptional circumstances, a case MLA Brendan Bell said did not apply for all of the contracts.

During a review of a request by the government for additional expenditures amounting to $8.4 million, Bell questioned why a $140,000 contract for legal work was sole-sourced to a southern-based law firm.

The finance minister said the law firm, McLennan Ross, was well-known to government for its expertise in tax and organizational structure.

Joe Handley said the legal work, particularly that related to the Talston hydro system, was deemed urgent by leaders in the South Slave region.

"The argument that these folks are the only folks who have access to this corporate knowledge somewhere in their organization, I don't think holds water," said Bell.

High on hydro

Charles Dent on Monday encouraged the government to tap the vast hydro-electric potential of northern rivers.

The Frame Lake MLA said if the government does not move on hydro soon, Alberta might, to the detriment of the NWT.

"We must do something soon, particularly on the Talston system," Dent said.

"If we don't, I'm concerned that Alberta might move ahead on the South Slave River, which could have tremendous negative impacts on our waters."

There's plenty of motivation for Alberta to fast-track hydro development, Dent said.

The province currently generates over 90 per cent of its electrical energy from non-renewable resources such as coal and natural gas.