(July 4, 2022) – David Brazil, PC Official Opposition Leader and MHA for Conception Bay East-Bell Island is questioning why Premier Furey is continuing to withhold information about his decisions from the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

According to public listings of Access to Information Requests, the Premier’s Office has not posted more than 50 Access to Information requests publicly. The last Access to Information request published by the Premier’s Office was in November.

“Again, Premier Furey is not being upfront with the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Whether it’s decisions made at the cabinet table that should be made public or information requests to his own office, this Premier is demonstrating again, and again a lack of interest in transparency with the public,” said Brazil.

“The Access to Information process is legislated to ensure transparency with the people of the province. More than 50 requests to the Premier’s Office should have been made public months ago, yet they remain hidden. Is this the transparency the Premier campaigned on?”

Brazil is calling on Premier Furey to live up to his commitment to transparency with the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Time and time again, we see this Premier hiding information from public eyes, making decisions behind closed doors, and refusing to make information public unless the privacy commissioner gets involved. It’s simply not good enough,” said Brazil.

“I call on the Premier: explain this situation. Why is your office so slow to make public Access to Information requests? Why did you hide cabinet decisions until local media smoked you out? Why do you continue to withhold information from the people of our province?”

-30-
 

Contacts:

David Maher

Director of Strategic Communications

(cell) 709-725-0984

DavidMaher@gov.nl.ca