In the House of Assembly today, Premier Tony Wakeham again failed to justify his use of MCP funds for political advice. In an effort to defend this inappropriate use of healthcare funding to pay a political staff member, Premier Wakeham contradicted his own previous statements.
On February 17, 2025, the Premier explicitly told allNewfoundlandandLabrador that Dr. Des Whalen was “not a part of our transition team.” Yesterday, the Premier changed his story, saying that Dr. Whalen was indeed part of his transition team. Premier Wakeham failed to confirm which version of his story is true, and is instead adding new versions.
Despite the Premier’s repeated false claims that paying for political staff is the same as paying for health care administration, he was unable to point to any policy or agreement that allows MCP funds to be used for partisan political advice. Further, he was unable to explain why the terms of Dr. Whalen’s own political staff contract are not being followed, which state: “The Political Support Staff Pay Plan on file with the Clerk of the Executive Council shall apply to political support staff.”
Meanwhile, the conflict in Iran is resulting in rapidly rising gas prices. In 2022, Premier Wakeham said that it is the Premier who controls the amount of taxation charged on a litre of gasoline.
We know that skyrocketing costs at the pump are adding to the already high cost of living. In June 2022, our Liberal government first introduced a reduction in the provincial gas tax which remains in place.
The Official Opposition calls on the Premier to acknowledge that he now controls the levers of government and urges him to take action to address this sudden increase in costs for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians by continuing and building on the Liberal gas tax cut.
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