Dale Kirby, Eddie Joyce file ATIPP requests for harassment reports
The MHAs say in joint statement they 'have a right to know' what investigators found
As the House of Assembly sits again Monday, MHAs Dale Kirby and Eddie Joyce say they're looking to get the unedited copies of the investigations into harassment allegations against them.
In a joint statement, the two former Liberal ministers said they have filed access to information requests to the office of the commissioner for legislative standards.
They're asking for the unedited copies of the five reports commissioner Bruce Chaulk prepared, which they said he has denied them.
"After so much private information was included in the commissioner's final, public reports, I am surprised to learn that the commissioner believes the release of the original, unedited reports would violate our privacy," Kirby said in the statement.
It was revealed last week that Toronto-based law firm Rubin Thomlinson was hired to complete the investigation.
According to the release, the commissioner said he is not obliged to release the firm's final reports.
The joint statement says both MHAs were "completely exonerated" in those reports, but the commissioner's reports, in fact, found them each guilty of one of the accusations against them.
The commissioner said Kirby used inappropriate language during an interaction with then-fellow Liberal caucus member Pam Parsons, and Joyce stepped over the line in trying to convince Sherry Gambin-Walsh to hire someone he had referred for a government job.
"The commissioner must release the complete, unedited reports done by Rubin Thomlinson. We have a right to know what they actually found out in the course of their investigation," Joyce said in the statement.
"This process has been fundamentally flawed from the beginning, and the commissioner should release these reports to clear the air once and for all."
The House of Assembly opened early last week in order to table the five reports Chaulk submitted.
MHAs will sit again Monday afternoon.