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With their latest actions, the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC) has confirmed what has been evident for a long time, that the scope of their work is not truth finding, but rather obfuscating and otherwise covering up what is happening with land holdings in PEI.
Yesterday, the standing committee on natural resources and environmental sustainability released a letter they received from Pamela Williams, newly appointed chair of IRAC by Dennis King, stating there was no final 2018 report in regards to an investigation into Bliss & Wisdom land holdings in PEI. This is an abrupt change in position.
Just last week, IRAC was trying to convince the committee to accept a closed off oral presentation in lieu of any report. Now that the committee has rejected that offer, the official word from IRAC is there never was a final report, but rather “initial” and “supplementary” reports. Ok, so why not release those?
The public is interested in this issue, and since they paid for all this, it seems just that they get to see the results of what they paid for.
IRAC disagrees; their official explanation is that releasing any info to the public would jeopardize a new investigation that Steven Myers requested before resigning. I don’t see how that is possible, which leads me to believe that the real reason for failing to release these prior reports is because it would make it more difficult for IRAC to whitewash what Bliss & Wisdom has been up to on PEI.
This is why in his final act as Premier, Dennis King appointed his chief of staff as chair of IRAC in a desperate attempt to clean up this mess as much as possible.
Considering all that has happened, I personally have no faith that IRAC is capable of doing a fair investigation into the Buddhists in PEI and place no faith in the new report they are compiling.
Calls for a Federal Inquiry
In response to the rampant corruption on PEI from the political class, a group of Islanders believes that the only way to get to the truth of what is happening is to call for a federal inquiry. I’m deeply skeptical that this is the right play. If PEI is beset by a group of criminals and thieves, I just don’t see how inviting more criminals and thieves over is going to do any good. Yes, the PEI government might be corrupt, but so is the federal government.
The Island population is now nearing 180,000, are things really so bad that there isn’t a handful of people that can be trusted to do a fair investigation in PEI? If that is the case, why bother even having a provincial government? Perhaps the people of PEI are not fit for self-rule and PEI should go back to being a colony whose affairs are managed by a Governor appointed by a higher authority.
It’s not just land holdings; it’s poverty, housing, healthcare, and education. Everything is collapsing. Is the federal government going to be asked to come in and fix these issues as well? At some point, Islanders have to learn to take care of their own affairs and dealing with Bliss & Wisdom is as good of a place to start as any.
