Accountability!

One of the hallmarks of Danny Williams' time in office has been his accountability. His level of accountability is unprecedented. Never in recent history has a government been seen that is accountable in the manner in which Danny Williams Administration is.

And speaking of Len Simms, it was interesting to learn today, on CBC radio news, that Mr. Simms will be joining the PC campaign team for the provincial election. You know, the one that you can already vote in, even though it hasn't been called.

CBC is, evidently, the place to learn this fact. That's because even though the Elections Act was amended in 2004 to set the date of the 2007 election as the second Monday in October, and even though that amendment made it easy to predict when the election would be called, and even though Mr. Simms was appointed to his post after the amendment, in early 2005, for some peculiar reason the announcement of his appointment neglected to mention the pesky little fact that his term would come to an end during the week, in September 2007, immediately before the writ would be issued for the, ahem, fixed election.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation's news release makes the same omission. In fact, the NLHC omitted to note Mr. Simm's appointment at all.

As Danny Williams said, before he was elected as the most open and transparent Premier in the history of this or any other province, state, or dominion, anywhere, ever:

"Above all else, a government must be accountable and responsive to the people. Elected officials are the people's representatives, the people's voice, and must at all times act in the best interests of the Province as a whole. In particular, financial accountability and transparency is critical to any successful and effective government. It is a profound and significant responsibility which we as an elected body must never lose sight of, as ultimately our decisions determine the future course of Newfoundland and Labrador. My government will provide real financial management, real transparency, and real accountability. Ours will be a new approach, and one which will benefit every Newfoundlander and Labradorian in a positive and powerful way."

Yip. The accountability of the Danny Williams Government is astounding. It is utterly without precedent. Surely Mr. Simms' next career move, no doubt to be made some time on or after October 10th, will receive exactly the same degree of accountability that we have all come to expect from Our Dear Premier.