‘Premier’s answer misleading & insincere!’ – Hon Fraser
It was during Thursday’s February 12, 2015 Third Sitting of the Fourth Session of the Second House of Assembly that Premier Smith moved a motion to renumber the Order Paper so that the questions by Opposition members to Government Ministers would come towards the end of the sitting.
However, the sitting went into recess around 10:00 PM with the questions unasked. The House of Assembly will resume the sitting on Tuesday February 17, 2015.
In speaking on the issue in the House of Assembly on Thursday, Honourable Fraser said that the Question and Answer period is an indispensable part of good governance and that by changing the time of it, persons coming to the sitting to hear the answers given would not be able to, since the renumbering of the order of business may run counter to their expectations in terms of time.
Hon Fraser suggested too that the integrity of the House of Assembly is possibly being eroded by the change since it seems as if it is becoming the norm for the Government.
In response to Hon Fraser’s concerns then, Premier Smith said that the people's business must take precedence over questions from Opposition members because by the time the Government Ministers are done with the answers, they are exhausted and can’t properly focus on the people's business.
“After listening to the Premier and his logic for amending the Order Paper, essentially relegating the Questions and Answers period to a mere after-thought in the proceedings, I became convinced that my level of appreciation for the role of the Opposition and the work they do was superior to that of the Premier,” said Honourable Fraser in a comment to this news site.
“For the Premier to say that, ‘the business of the country and the government to be debated should take precedence over questions’, shows that his understanding of the Westminster System of Democracy is fraught with self-aggrandizement, particularly when considering that he has been the beneficiary of the same Order Paper for two terms in the Opposition,” said Honourable Fraser.
“Then as he went on to say, ‘When you [deal with the questions] sometimes you don’t get to the business of the day until late when members are exhausted and cannot properly participate in the debate and pay full attention to [what is happening]’. I found that to be so misleading and insincere,” said Honourable Fraser.
“First of all, Questions and Answers is part of the Business of the Day, he should say Government Business. And isn't it a shame to claim that members are exhausted after questions but at the same time prepared to have them answered after government business at which time they will be exhausted?” asked Honourable Fraser.
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18 Responses to “‘Premier’s answer misleading & insincere!’ – Hon Fraser ”
Mark went out of his way to not mention the BiWater name. Very uncomfortable with
discussing the topic it seems.
To be honest, I never understood what all the fuss was about the BiWater deal in the first
place; specially knowing that Ocean Conversion wasn't truly/fully, a totally a local company;
just like CCT also wasn't (until only a few years ago, when Jerecki sold his shares), a totally
local company.
It is clear that the NDP government wasn't up to giving BIWater the assistance they need; and
even held back in order to make the previous government look bad.
That is precisely why we have to think very hard and deep when it comes time to choose our
representatives. Now imagine that instead of doing what's best for the country ..and people,
that instead of working with as muck haste as possible to give the populace portable water in
as far a reach as possible, because of politics, the people must suffer.
Besides the excessive millions we have been told we would have to pay, we have also been
told that we would be paying for water that we wouldn't use. Now, with the cruise ships coming
more frequent, one would imagine that here we would have an additional avenue for the sale
of the unused water; perhaps even improving on the value of the deal to us.
Its amazing how the phrase: "Country above self" gets thrown around and abused.
I wouldn't be surprise if VIP suddenly goes into campaign mode because of this great news
about their BiWater Vindication
@OHKALA... I'M NOT HEAR TO ARGUE WITH YOU SILLY PEOPLE WHO LIVE FOR TODAY.... IM FROM HERE AND WE KNOW TRUTH ABOUT THEM T....ES CALLED VIP... THERE PEOPLE SPENT TIME IN J... REMEMBER ???? AND OTHERS GOT AWAY.... THE ONLY GOOD NAME VIP EVER HAD WAS HON. LAVITY STOUTT.... IM DONE WITH YOU AND WHOEVER IS ON YOUR SIDE....
Who is fooling whom?
But keep the pressure on Fraser as this government and there cronies are going to find ways to keep the information from being accessed in an open society.
The digital age giving them problems as they cannot order a shutdown of that with much effect.