The Kennedy Principle

SuperMinister Jerome may have just hit upon a marvellous legislative expedient. In his press release earlier today, the Minister of Whatever Jerome Kennedy Is Minister of This Quarter says:

The public nature of this kind of information is supported by its routine public release in some other provinces. Both British Columbia and Manitoba have legislation which requires them to disclose, on an annual basis, salaries of physicians and other public servants.

Now, the wacky thing is that in a federation, each sub-national unit gets to make its own laws, in those areas of their constitutional competence, which apply within their own territory.


But, hey, now that Manitoba's Public Sector Compensation Disclosure Act applies in Dannystan, perhaps another of Manitoba's innovations in the field of openness and accountability, namely The Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act, will also be seen to have extraterritorial application, thereby, finally, fulfilling one of Dear Leader's solemn promises from some years back.

Or, on the other hand, maybe one of these months the House of Assembly could actually sit and autonomously come up with some legislation of its own.