[Minister Judy Foote Says she Quits]
I put this one under the category of good news/bad news. Public Services Minister Judy Foote is about to “jump ship”.
The bad news is that she will cling to her “entitlements” and remain in parliament drawing her regular pay check of $170,000 per year. The fact that Foote has not bothered to show up in Parliament since early April probably has much more to do with the embarrassing mess resulting from the failing Phoenix pay system she ran than stories about personal health issues.
When a ship begins to sink, it is not uncommon to witness rats scurry.
The Foote/Phoenix “mess/scandal” took place under Foote’s watch as head of the Ministry of Public Works.
The Phoenix Pay fiasco has now dragged on for nearly two years with no progress. The “system” (more appropriately, the Albatross System) is a farce of classic dimensions. It is fitting that Foote leave –quickly and many public servants would add, “don’t let the door hit you in your fat arse on the way out!”. Folks have good reason to be furious with Foote and her mishandling of the fiasco. On the one hand, you have a high percentage of Federal Civil Servants who have gone home without pay checks FOR MONTHS. On the other hand, news got out that Foote rewarded those in charge of the “mess”.
When word got out that 340 of Foote’s Public Works Department executives divvied up nearly $5,000,000 in “performance bonuses” (April 8, 2017, Global News, Monique Scotti) Foote’s absence from Question Period surprised no one.
It’s a pity that the constituents of Foote’s Federal Riding (Bonavista-Burin-Trinity, Nfld) look pretty dumb through all of this. IF Foote’s excuse for absence from her $170,000 per year job is legitimately “health and family reasons”, the question remains, “how well are New Foundlanders in Bonavista-Burin-Trinity being represented??? But,,, they wanted her as their representative and we are all laughing at their choice.
Speaking of “health problems”, sources are telling me that Justin Trudeau will hand Foote’s job to his long time personal friend, Seamus O’Regan. O’Regan’s spotty attendance in parliament is said to be attributed to his personal ongoing battle with alcoholism.
It remains to be seen what O’Regan, a former radio talking head can bring to the Phoenix table that his soon to be departed predecessor (Foote) lacked. Foote’s background had nothing to do with large scale corporate management required of the portfolio and neither does reading the news on TV. Prior to jumping aboard the HMS Trudeau, Foote was a clerical worker at Memorial University and then a spin writer for (then) Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells.
The rats are coming off the ship
Follow Lloyd’s articles on Twitter @LloydFournier1
Copyright Thunderbird Rising 2017
The above article is copyrighted. You may use, copy or distribute this article conditional on attributing your source (Thunderbird Rising) and the author (Lloyd Fournier)
Lloyd Fournier : Lloyd is the founder of Thunderbird Rising (Thunderbird rising.com) and the recent recipient of a Humanitarian Award, an author (novels) and a freelance writer. His drill down style of writing is a throw back to classic journalism - completely objective and well researched. His work presents the reader opportunity to rethink issues. 