The premier’s political tirade this past weekend at the PC Party convention had more to do with deflecting from other provincial issues and finding a new political target than providing any substance to an ongoing debate about caucus funding, said Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones.

Last week, government members of the House of Assembly Management Commission (HOAMC) decided to reject additional caucus resources for the Official Opposition. The additional resources were recommended by an independent consultant who stated that the Opposition caucus was underfunded. Government members rejected the extra money, even though they supported increases to the budgets of the government caucus and the third party caucus totaling over $300,000. The final decision will be made next month when Speaker Roger Fitzgerald casts his vote on the issue.

“It is very unfortunate that the premier decided to use me as his new personal political target to rally his supporters at the PC convention this weekend,” said Ms. Jones. “This isn’t unexpected, however, this is the premier’s pattern of attacking people personally when he is trying to deflect from other issues. I guess attacking Stephen Harper doesn’t have the same level of enthusiasm in his party as it did a few short days ago.

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