PNP ‘bonus’ raises more questions
Editor – hush money it is indeed! At the Public Accounts Committee, Jim Bagnall Conservative accused Richard Brown’s Dubai team of double charging – yes $5,000 dollars – for the interview. Richard huffed and puffed and then let out his Freudian slip “criminals” – me thinks thou doest protest to much my Richard. – Stephen Pate
By Paul MacNeill
November 19, 2008
Eastern Graphic
Paul MacNeill, Island PressInnovation Minister Richard Brown calls payments of up to $20,000 to employees of Island Investment Development Inc. bonuses for overtime required processing more than 1,800 immigrant applications.
That is a gentle description.
A not so gentle description could be the Ghiz government created a head tax with the proceeds going to employees of the crown agency.
And a description for the truly skeptical might label the bonuses hush money aimed at keeping the civil service from spilling all the gory details of the Provincial Nominee Program.
The former Conservative government started the nominee program. At its peak only 500 immigrants were processed in a single year. After coming to power, the Liberals changed the rules governing the program resulting in a staggering 1,800 plus immigrants being jammed through from March to September of this year, when he federal government shut the program down.
So many applicants were in the PNP pipeline that Richard Brown dispatched civil servants to Dubai and China to interview prospective immigrants. To offset the cost to taxpayers the minister established a $2,500 ‘interview fee’. This is money over and above the $200,000 PNP demanded potential immigrants invest in an Island business in return for a fast-tracked Canadian visa.
Civil servants were financially rewarded based upon the number of applicants processed, which raises serious questions about the due diligence government displayed in vetting potential immigrants.
The ‘interview fee’ is at best unseemly. It speaks volumes about the state of mind within the Liberal government. Its primary concern was to extract as much money as possible, from as many immigrants as possible, in as short a time as possible.
Provincial government unions are right to be outraged. There are plenty of civil servants – in all areas of the civil service – who work overtime without benefit of bonuses. The union points to IT and payroll workers being denied vacations this summer while government updated its computer systems.
Why did Richard Brown suddenly decide that civil servants working the PNP file deserved special treatment? Why not IT workers? It’s a valid question and to date the minister has offered no valid explanation.
The Provincial Nominee Program continues to taint the Ghiz government. Its stain is steadily growing. The question now becomes where will it stop and who will it claim.
There is little doubt that PNP holds the potential to swamp the Ghiz government and topple leading members of the administration.
It is that serious.
This is an issue that will not be swept away. Too many people have been involved at one level or another. It is impossible for Brown to clamp down on leaks – something the minister is reportedly more than a little concerned with.
Islanders need a full accounting of PNP, especially since Robert Ghiz assumed power. Why were the rules changed? Why were so many applications rushed through? Who decided? Was there political interference in the application process? Did supporters of Liberal government receive unfair advantage? Were the rules manipulated or broken?
So many questions demand answers and off balance sheet bonus payments to civil servants is just the latest in a rapidly growing list.
