Opposition parties, political expert cite conflict of interest in Liberal figure skating fuss
Liberals gave $1,500 grant, received front row seats for Kaetlyn Osmond show
The Liberals appear to be in a conflict of interest for trading a government grant for figure skating tickets, say both a political scientist and the leader of the province's Opposition.
As CBC News reported on Monday, emails show that Liberal MHA Mark Browne's assistant asked the Ice Crystal Skate Club for 34 tickets to see Kaetlyn Osmond's hometown performance in Marystown in April 2018, with the promise of government grant to more than cover costs.
The club accepted the deal, received $1,500, and Liberals such as Browne, Dwight Ball and more sat at centre ice.
"This looks like a government grant is being given, and in turn we want some portion of what that grant is buying, or what that grant is covering," said Kelly Blidook, a professor of political science at Memorial University, adding the emails don't prove conclusively that's exactly what transpired.
It goes to the larger issue of transparency and accountability, and poor choices of public money.- Allison Coffin
But, he said, "any time you're looking at government, what you can't have is a situation where the people who can be making the decisions can also benefit from those decisions. Any version of that is a conflict of interest."
PC Leader Ches Crosbie had similar sentiments while on the campaign trail Tuesday.
"There's an element here of conflict of interest, and of government getting a private benefit using public money that is impermissible, and intolerable," he said.
NDP Leader Allison Coffin also chimed in Tuesday, saying "certainly there are ethical concerns" with the tickets.
"It goes to the larger issue of transparency and accountability and poor choices of public money," she said.
'Show the proof'
Browne, the MHA for Placentia West-Bellevue, told CBC in a statement that he paid for the figure skating tickets, and he had done nothing wrong.
"They need to show the proof. Show the documentation that proves the tickets were purchased," said Crosbie.
It's not a problem for politicians to attend a high-profile event like Osmond's show, said Blidook, but they need to take steps to make their attendance a transparent, public process.
"But that's not what happened," he said.
Blidook said the same principles were at stake in the federal Liberal sponsorship scandal, albeit on a much largest scale.
"When you're governing, you can't give out money with the understanding that you get any benefit back from it," he said.
With files from Anthony Germain, Terry Roberts and Garrett Barry