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Also see today's lead editorial
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (July 23/01) - A reversal by the cabinet minister at the centre of an unprecedented conflict-of-interest case has caught everyone but the minister and her lawyer off guard.
 Conflict Commissioner Carol Roberts says she wants an original copy of the tape and any other tapes that have been made. - NNSL photo |
The request came at the end of a scathing four-page letter from Groenewegen's lawyer, Barrie Chivers.
"I was quite surprised," said Brendan Bell, chair of the special committee appointed to hear the allegation. "I didn't think that going this far into the process she would do that."
In the July 18 letter, Chivers cites the mounting cost of hearing the allegations of bias levelled against the commissioner by Groenewegen as the reason for the reversal. Chivers pins all responsibility for those costs squarely on Robert's shoulders, and states that, while Groenewegen no longer wants to proceed, she still maintains the commissioner is biased.
Roberts says she believes Groenewegen's decision has more to do with an audio tape now under lock and key in the clerk's office than costs.
Side show
Groenewegen first levelled the unprecedented bias charge May 7, just as Roberts was finishing up a report on her investigation of a complaint filed against Groenewegen.
The minister's application has blocked the release of the report, which addresses a complaint filed by Groenewegen's business rival, Jack Rowe. Rowe is alleging Groenewegen violated conflict-of-interest law by remaining a director of two companies she has a financial interest in.
The original complaint proved far simpler to deal with than the bias charge. The board of management tried and failed to deal with the charge before it was turned over to the special committee. Lawyers for both sides have churned out hundreds of pages of written arguments.
Bell promised the costs will be made public, adding, "It's not going to be something any of us are going to be happy with or proud of."
Chivers revealed the existence of the tape during the July 12 sitting of the special committee. He said a recording of a phone call made to the commissioner by principal secretary John Bayly contradicts statements made by Roberts.
Roberts said Groenewegen seems bent on publicly discrediting her "It deeply disturbs me that the minister was a party to and then withheld the existence of a surreptitious tape-recording of my private telephone conversation with Mr. Bayly," wrote Roberts in a response to Chivers letter.
"I want an original copy of that tape and I want any other tapes that have been made," she said Friday.
Both Bayly and Groenewegen have refused to discuss the tape. Groenewegen on Saturday refused to say what else is on the tape.
"I don't think that's relevant," she said. "If the case proceeds, I guess you'll find out. I'm not prepared to talk about what else is on the tape right now."
In a response to Chivers' letter, Roberts pointed out it came a day after a July 17 request from legislative law clerk Katherine Peterson for a copy of the tape.
Groenewegen said she made the decision to withdraw the day before.
"I just woke up Monday morning and said, 'It's not worth pursuing this.' I mean where does it end?" Groenewegen said. "I called my lawyer Monday morning and told him to prepare a letter to withdraw."
Groenewegen said she was prepared to play the tape at last Thursday's meeting of the special committee, but because only transcripts were ordered of the conversation between Bayly and the commissioner, took it back to her constituency. The tape was delivered to the assembly Friday.
The request to withdraw was to be dealt with by the committee yesterday after press time. The committee was to report back to the legislative assembly today with recommendations on the allegation of bias.
