Hands off

BondPapers asks:

Odd that Paul Oram backbencher had no trouble with his wife’s picture and name being in a Labrador newspaper when she and her husband travelled to Labrador west talking about opening a new personal care home in the area. Anyone got a picture of that to share for posterity?

And labradore obliges:

This is a saved-down version of a photo by Peter Genge which originally appeared on page 4 of the October 15, 2006 issue of the late Labrador West news weekly, 53 North.

Remember that date.

It portrays, left to right, fellow care home owner Gerry Kirby, Karen Oram, and Paul Oram, late Minister of Health until the glare of scrutiny by the nefarious media got to him.

The accompanying article, by Peter and Ngaire Genge, was entitled, "One Step Closer to Lab West Seniors' Complex".

The article opens:

Completing yet another step towards a modern seniors' complex for Labrador West, developers Karen and Paul Oram were in the region this week to meet with prospective clients and crunch final numbers. "The magic number is fifty," says paul. "We can plan for expansion later, but, to invest the $2.5 million to begin the project, we need fifty residents."

Karen and Paul Oram curently own and operate two other personal care homes, in Glovertown and Gambo, with 52 and 53 beds respectively.

It continues:

The Orams' [sic] came to Labrador West with a vision and a draft for a facility, but that's already in revision.

[...]

Says Paul [Oram], "Luckily for us, my father is in the construction busines. He's worked on our other project and could lead the construction work here. That would help with cost effectiveness, but there are certainly differences in the costs of material and the availability of construction personnel here compared to other locatoins, all of which has to be taken into account."

[...]

Says Paul [Oram], "Government will provide the same subsidies here as they will in Clarke's Beach or Gambo. [...]"

[...]

Says Paul [Oram], "Certainly, the final disposition of a site for the hospital will have some real influence on our choices."

[...]

Says Paul [Oram], "We have to weigh a lot of factors before where we decide we'd want to locate the facility."

When the Bad Bad Media Man first reported on then-Minister Oram's business CV in July, Oram said:

"I have been hands off for a number of years now — in fact since 2003 — and ... I have sought legal council to decide the [what] best step is to take," Oram said. "But I can assure you at the end of the day that I will comply and I will ensure there is no conflict."

The year 2006, the year in which the photo and article above were published, is generally believed to have come after 2003 — assuming, of course, that both dates are according to the same era of reckoning.

Less than two weeks later, the Bad Bad Media Man reported that, with the Commissioner of Members' Interests and former President of the PC Party finally back from holidays, he had received, and would be complying with, the Commissioner's recommendations.

And the next day, two more Bad Bad Media Men — though not quite as bad as the Really Bad Bad one — reported for a Quebec daily newspaper:

Paul Oram continued to act as an owner and director of private companies after being appointed to cabinet in the fall of 2007, according to corporate records filed in provincial registries.

Three months later, Paul Oram could no longer be accused of any public conflict of interest, having settled the issue decisively by resigning his public posts as MHA and Minister of the Crown. In his departing shriek he flayed the media:

Let me give you an example, David [Cochrane]. You know, first when I became a minister, it was my business interests … plastering my wife’s name all over the television, and my father’s name all over the television. Is that appropriate? Well I guess the media thinks it is. I’m fair game, but I don’t think my family are. That played a huge role in terms of where they’re coming from, and it’s been a rough time for them, in terms of issue after issue after issue. Quite frankly, I’m not going to expose my family to that anymore, and I’m going to move on. It’s been a good go, but the time has come to move on.

This would be, presumably, the same wife whose name and face his appeared next to his, and the same father whose name he dropped a reference to, in the Labrador West papers three scant years before.