Yellowknife (May 21/04) - Ethics counsellor Ted Hughes has "wide latitude" in his investigation of allegations senior government officials may have interfered with the Liquor Licencing Board.

Ted Hughes

On Wednesday, Premier Joe Handley released terms of reference for Hughes' probe into suggestions two Yellowknife bars may have benefited from preferential treatment by the Justice department during a series of liquor board hearings in February.

"We want this to be as thorough as possible. As a government, we want to be transparent," Handley said.

Included in that is a decision by Justice lawyers to drastically reduce their recommended punishment for one local bar, Le Frolic.

Lawyers originally sought a 45-day closure for the bar after an intoxicated patron fell down and hit his head. But the recommendation was reduced to a single day following a conversation between deputy Justice minister Don Cooper and Top Knight owner Gordon Wray.

Notes of the conversation obtained by Yellowknifer under an access to information request say Wray was "incensed" by the stiff punishments being doled out by the board.

A case against Wray's bar was dropped due to a lack of evidence. Members of the liquor board also say they felt pressure to scale back punishments against bars that violated the Liquor Act.

Hughes will examine whether senior officials interfered with the autonomy of the board or prevented the release of documents.

The latter allegation stems from an internal liquor board e-mail that suggests Finance department staff wanted to destroy the notes of a conversation between former NWT Liquor Board chair John Simpson and Don Cooper.

Handley said Hughes, a former B.C. Supreme Court justice, will report directly to the premier's office by July 15.