Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 26/01) - Conflict commissioner Carol Roberts is undoubtedly thankful she doesn't have Sheila Greckol as a boss.

Greckol, lawyer for territorial Health Minister Jane Groenewegen, aggressively questioned Roberts for two days about her handling of conflict-of-interest complaints against Groenewegen.

Roberts was the last of six witnesses to take the stand in a quasi-judicial inquiry into a bias allegation Groenewegen levelled against the commissioner. The special committee of five MLAs overseeing the inquiry also examined the secret taping of phone calls to the commissioner place by Groenewegen in support of the bias allegation.

Last Friday Greckol took aim at Roberts' competence, questioning why the commissioner advised the minister to tell her trustee to move a company vehicle into her name, an apparent violation of Groenewegen's trust agreement.

Roberts also should have advised Groenewegen what section of the act she was alleged to have violated, Greckol argued.

Roberts admitted she had not given the minister a chance to comment on a draft copy of her report on a complaint made last year by Thebacha MLA Michael Miltenberger, something she had told the minister she would do.

The line of questioning drew a number of objections from Roberts' lawyer.

"This is becoming abusive," said Joseph Arvay at one point.

Committee chair Brendan Bell dismissed the objections, explaining that the committee was interested in both the quality and quantity of the advice Roberts had provided.

In his cross-examination of Groenewegen at the start of the hearing, Arvay attempted to portray the minister as combative and unwilling to take responsibility for getting her business affairs in order.

On Saturday, Greckol tried to bolster Groenewegen's allegation of bias and Groenewegen's contention that Roberts improperly divulged confidential information during media interviews.

Greckol noted that, in her report on the Miltenberger complaint, Roberts indicated she held Groenewegen to a higher standard than other MLAs because of her involvement in the Morin inquiry.