Opposition MHA for the District of Cartwright-L=Anse Au Clair, Yvonne Jones,  is disappointed that  government is restricting input in determining the terms of reference of a judicial inquiry into the circumstances around faulty estrogen and progesterone receptor testing for breast cancer patients.

 "The Private Members Motion I presented on this issue called for a broad terms of reference to be established with input form all parties in the House of Assembly,@ says Jones.  A I thought this issue should be approached in a non‑partisan fashion allowing everyone in the Legislature an opportunity to put forward their views on how the terms of reference of this inquiry should be set out." 

Government House Leader Tom Rideout amended the Private Members Motion made by Jones, deleting the section requesting that  all parties in the House of Assembly be involved in setting the terms of reference. 

The Liberal MHA says she is not impressed that the Minister of Health would boast about being the government and that they  alone had the power to establish the terms of reference. "This is a very heavy handed approach to government and it is certainly inappropriate in this particular circumstance. The motion I presented gave this government an opportunity to show that they could be open, transparent and cooperative. Once again, they dashed any hope of acting in a positive manner." 

Jones points out that while the legislation governing public inquiries allows cabinet to establish terms of reference, it certainly does not restrict government from allowing others to have input into the establishment of those terms. 

In a procedural move that caught the government by surprise, Opposition House Leader Kelvin Parsons proposed a sub‑amendment to the amended motion which would allow members of the public to have input into the establishment of the terms of reference of the judicial inquiry.   

Jones says she was shocked that government members would go so far as to vote down input from the public on the terms of reference on this important inquiry.