The secretary to the Treasury Board of Manitoba, one in all Premier Brian Pallister’s high advisers, has resigned.
Final week, Paul Beauregard requested the clerk of the manager council, David McLaughlin, to begin looking for a brand new chief for the Treasury Board Secretariat, a spokesperson from the provincial authorities instructed CBC Information by way of e-mail.
“The secretary will proceed in his present function till a alternative is discovered and, together with a whole lot of different public servants, will proceed to help the work of Manitoba‘s COVID-19 vaccine activity pressure,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Beauregard has been below hearth for months from the Opposition NDP, which accused him of awarding a authorities contract for information networking companies with out going to tender — a course of the place the federal government releases a contract publicly, contractors bid for the appropriate to do the job, then the federal government awards the contract to the lowest bidder.
The contract in query was awarded to Bell MTS final Could, in response to the provincial authorities’s disclosure of contracts database.
Manitoba Telecom Providers (now Bell MTS) signed a 10-year contract, valued at over $124 million, to offer networking companies in authorities workplaces throughout the province in 2010. Bell MTS was awarded a 30-month extension, price $37.5 million, after the contract expired final yr.
However the NDP says Beauregard, who as soon as served as a Bell MTS govt, didn’t let firms compete for that contract extension. In doing so, the NDP says he prevented Manitoba Hydro Worldwide — Hydro’s industrial subsidiary firm — from bidding on the contract.
In September, the NDP known as for an audit of Hydro Worldwide to show there was interference. The celebration mentioned paperwork obtained by the liberty of data act present Beauregard prevented Hydro Worldwide from making an attempt to safe the contract.
A month later, Pallister accused the NDP of “maliciously defaming” Beauregard. Then in December, he described the accusations as a private assault towards a civil servant primarily based on false data.
Additionally in December, NDP MLA Adrien Sala accused the Progressive Conservative authorities of making an attempt to silence his accusations towards Beauregard, after he turned the topic of a proper criticism below the province’s respectful office coverage.
Sala known as it an act of intimidation, and mentioned the federal government was making an attempt to undermine his freedom to query its actions throughout query interval.
Contained in the Legislative Meeting, MLAs are given parliamentary privilege that enables them to elevate issues with out the worry of authorized penalties. If a member takes one thing too far, nonetheless, the Speaker of the Home can ask the MLA to withdraw the remark.
On the time, Authorities Home Chief Kelvin Goertzen mentioned the privilege to criticize different members within the chamber doesn’t prolong to civil servants resembling Beauregard.
