MHA details harassment, bullying by former cabinet ministers in leaked letter

Terra Nova MHA Colin Holloway says he was harassed and bullied, according to allegations in a leaked letter to the office ofthe provincial commissioner forlegislative standards requesting an inquiry.

As reported by VOCM News, Holloway's lettersays after he endorsed Pam Parsons for Speaker of the House instead of Premier Dwight Ball's preferred choice, Perry Trimper then-municipal affairs minister Eddie Joyce grew unsupportivewhen Holloway approached him with district concerns."

"Over the past six months, whenever I brought a district concern to Mr. Joyce, his consistent response has been 'Here he goes again! Don't have anything else to talk about other than your district.' In a number of instances, Mr. Joyce would simply tell me to f--k off," says the letter to commissioner Bruce Chaulk, according to VOCM.

Holloway said he was discouraged in his support for Parsons by Joyce and former education minister Dale Kirby, who Holloway said sent him a BlackBerry message suggesting that choosing Parsons over Trimper would embarrass the premier and prompt an election:

"I hope you understand that should Pam succeed today in embarrassing Dwight by setting up this confidence vote in our government, we will likely be heading to the polls in less than year. Better dust off your election signs," reads the message from Kirby.

Premier defends process

Ball today said he knew "in a general sense" what the allegations were but hadn't seen the actual letter until it was revealed Thursday. He said, contrary to the allegations in the letter, he himself encouraged Parsons to run, and didn't direct Joyce or Kirby to rally support for Trimper.

Despite the leaking of the letter, Ball repeatedly defended the review process currently under way.

"The process itself that is established is a good process. The fact that people make a decision to waive the privileges within the process, that could happen to anyone," said the premier.

"You could bring in some of the world's best leaders in harassment-free workplace policies if the people that are actually participating in that review waive their privilege of that independence, well, that does not reflect on the person that's doing the review. It really reflects more on the people that are participating in the review."

In a statementfrom theOffice of the Commissioner forLegislative Standards, Chaulksaid all investigations conducted by his office "are handled with utmost confidentiality and respect."

No comment from Holloway

The statement also notes that the commissioner is allowed to provide a copy of a request for an inquiry only to the complainant andany members implicated.

Holloway declined to comment to CBCother than to say he didn't leak the letter.

Progressive Conservative MHAand member of the House Management Commission Paul Davis said the leak of theletter "speaks to further challenges and difficulties" in the Liberal caucus. He said the way things have been handled may deter others from coming forward.

"If I was them, I'd have another reason not to follow the process," he said.