Auditor general will probe failed e-gaming initiative

Auditor General Jane MacAdam will review the province's failed e-gaming initiative, the P.E.I. government confirmed Tuesday.

Premier Wade MacLauchlan announced last week he would ask MacAdam to look into the file.

• Premier taking e-gaming file to auditor general

MacAdam has been asked to undertake a thorough review of the file and to report back with findings of fact and with recommendations for reform or specific actions, said the province in a statement.

"The Auditor General has been asked to consider all aspects of government’s dealings with Simplex, Capital Market Technologies and related companies in relation to e-gaming and financial services, including the conduct of current or former elected officials and staff," said the statement.

Public accounts committee not investigating

While the auditor general will be reviewing the file, the public accounts committee of the legislature will not. P.E.I. Opposition leader Steven Myers failed in his bid to have the committee launch its own probe.

Myers presented a work plan and list of potential witnesses to the committee Tuesday.

But government members voted to send the plan and witness list to the Auditor General Jane MacAdam, and to ask her for regular updates on her investigation into e-gaming.

Myers wanted a two-pronged approach with public accounts doing its own work.

"We have a duty as elected officials. And this committee has a duty to the legislative assembly to be the oversight committee for government, to look at the way government handles itself and the way it conducts itself and the way it does business," said Myers.

"And it's disappointing today to see a group walk in here and block that from happening."

Myers says Islanders deserve to know what happened with the e-gaming file before they vote in the next provincial election.

Interim conflict of interest commissioner

Also Tuesday, the province announced that retired justice John McQuaid has been appointed acting conflict of interest commissioner.

Neil Robinson resigned as conflict of interest commissioner Sunday after it was reported he had invested in a company connected to the province's plan to regulate e-gaming.

Neil Robinson, conflict of interest commissioner, resigns
Not in conflict, asserts conflict of interest commissioner

Robinson told CBC News he was not in a conflict when he purchased a $15,000 stake in CMT in August 2012. However, in a statement issued on the weekend, Robinson said he didn't have the "necessary confidence of the assembly" and had "no alternative to resign."

McQuaid practised law for 20 years before becoming justice of the Court of Appeal, a position he held from 1993 to his retirement in 2012.

He will serve in the position until the legislative assembly appoints a new conflict of interest commissioner