Merry Christmas, Mr. Reid

On December 17th, 2012, the House of Assembly witnessed the following Question Period exchange:

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, after last year's election the Premier appointed Mr. Ross Reid as the deputy minister of the Voluntary and Non-Profit Secretariat which is now a division of the Office of Public Engagement. This week, the Premier appointed Marilyn Field as deputy minister to the Office of Public Engagement.

I ask the Premier: Do we now have two deputy ministers in the Office of Public Engagement? Or is Mr. Reid gone and if so, where?

MR. HUTCHINGS: Mr. Speaker, last fall the Premier gave direction and set up the Office of Public Engagement. It has brought together five entities: the ATIPP office, Office of Youth Engagement, the Rural Secretariat, Strategic Business Partnership, and the Non-Profit Sector. That was basically to recognize the good work that has been done, but to build on that and bring those entities together to make sure on both ends that the information that we can release to the public is there and easily more accessible.

We have made some efforts in terms of that already; they will continue. As well, in terms of the dialogue and consultation in terms of social and economic policy, that continues again in the good work that we do.

Just recently there was a deputy minister assigned to head up the Office of Public Engagement, a well-qualified individual. We are looking forward to working with her, as a new department together, and the good things that we have done in the past and build on that with Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, Mr. Speaker.

Note the added emphasis in the question.

Note also the Minister's lack of a specific response to that surgically-precise factual question.

As it turns out, Mr. Reid was appointed to Yet Another Deputyministerial Job on December 17th.

This fact was revealed to the public by The Most Open And Accountable Government In The World on, um, January 17th.