N.L. premier to testify at cancer inquiry
Testimony at the public inquiry into faulty breast cancer tests in Newfoundland and Labrador is expected to wrap up next week after the appearance of one of its most high-profile witnesses, Premier Danny Williams.
Williams is scheduled to testify at the inquiry, headed by Justice Margaret Cameron, in St. John's on Oct. 28, and the public proceedings are expected to end two days later.
Cameron has been hearing testimony since March in an effort to uncover why hundreds of breast cancer patients received faulty hormone receptor test results from Eastern Health. The test can help determine the course of treatment a patient already diagnosed with breast cancer will receive.
Many have been waiting to hear from Williams after months of testimony from Eastern Health managers and some of the province's most highly-placed officials, pointing out that the information trail about the extent of the laboratory mistakes led to the Premier's office.
In June, Reg Coates, director of legislative and regulatory affairs in the Department of Health and Community Services, told the Cameron inquiry that he was caught off-guard in the summer of 2007 by the sudden interest — from the highest levels of government — in an access to information request from the media.
A reporter with the St. John's Telegram had filed a request for the briefing notes supplied to three different health ministers about flawed hormone receptor tests, which are the focus of the inquiry.
Coates testified that the premier's office asked for three copies of the information that would be supplied to the reporter — one for Williams's communications director Elizabeth Matthews, with copies for Brian Crawley, the chief of staff in the premier's office, and Brian Taylor, the office's director of operations.
Coates said officials in the premier's office and in the cabinet secretariat demanded that some of the information in those briefings be cut before the information was released.
Also in June, Crawley testified that he was sent an e-mail in July, 2005 that warned of a major story about to break involving breast cancer testing mistakes. Crawley testified he couldn't remember getting the e-mail or even talking to anyone in the premier's office, including the premier, about it.
Williams to face Cameron after criticism
Williams has publicly criticized the inquiry during the proceedings, questioning the work of inquiry lawyers Sandra Chaytor and Bernard Coffey, as well as the validity of their fees. Williams made the comments during an interview on a local cable show.
Williams has repeatedly criticized Coffey's and Chaytor's conduct at the inquiry, and was publicly scolded by John Gomery, the former Quebec justice who oversaw the inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal.
In June, Williams likened the inquiry to a "witch hunt," and criticized Cameron for conduct he said he found "disappointing," such as rolling her eyes, tapping her pencil and shrugging, and generally showing what he interpreted as disdain for those testifying.
In May, Williams sparked an uproar when he said the inquiry was using "inquisitorial methods" and had an overly aggressive tone.
After Williams testifies, the inquiry is expected to end two days later the way it began — by hearing from breast cancer patients affected by the botched tests.
Cameron is expected to submit her findings to the provincial government in February.