Dwight Ball accused of conflict of interest for stake in seniors' complex
Blind trust for premier's business assets still not in place
Premier Dwight Ball is coming under fire for his involvement with Sundara, a condominium project in Mount Pearl that is now transitioning to becoming a seniors' rental complex, on the same day Eastern Health announced the closure of 50 long term care beds as part of budget cost cutting measures.
Sundara is part-owned by Ball, which, according to its website, will offer weekly housekeeping, daily medication checks and optional dining plans to its tenants.
Ball said the project is modelled neither on long term care homes nor personal care homes.
"It's quite a different service that would be provided," Ball said, adding he is at an arms length from its operations and intentions.
"I am not involved in the day to day activities, so I have no idea."
Conflict of interest?
Ball's statements were greeted with skepticism from opposition leader Paul Davis and Lorraine Michael of the NDP.
Is there a conflict of interest here?- PC Leader Paul Davis
"On the surface it certainly raises the question, is there a conflict of interest here?" asked Davis, adding Sundara appeared to be venturing into government care territory, and thereby possibly qualify at some point for government funding.
"There are certainly a lot of similarities, in what I saw on the website that they're offering as services, and what personal care homes offer."
No blind trust
Premiers are mandated to place their business assets in blind trusts for the duration of their public service to avoid such conflicts of interest.
But for Ball, that process is not yet complete.
"There [are] lawyers involved right now, as well as some experts that do this kind of work. They started their work some time ago," said Ball, although he could not give a timeline as to when the blind trust would be in place.
"'I'd love to have it done tomorrow, to be honest with you."
It took Danny Williams around a year and half for his blind trust to come into effect after he was elected premier in 2003.
With files from Peter Cowan