For Immediate Release
3 November, 2022
NL NDP Leader and MHA for St. John’s Centre, Jim Dinn, calling on the Liberal government to recall the Provincial Health Authority Act immediately. Dinn is flabbergasted after reading a letter from the Information of Privacy Commissioner. The letter states the Liberal Government, and the Speaker of the House of Assembly was informed that under ATIPPA legislation that government must seek consultation from the Commissioner to draft legislation with obvious privacy implications. After being informed of this requirement, the Liberal government proceeded to introduce legislation in defiance of ATIPPA legislation.
“Premier Furey and the Liberal government must understand that they are not above the law,” said Dinn. “What is outlined by the Information and Privacy Commissioner in his letter to Members of the House of Assembly is an egregious willful defiance of privacy legislation by the Liberal government. We are very concerned that the Liberal government was informed of privacy concerns and decided to rush this legislation anyway.”
“Again, we have to ask, where is his focus? Because it’s clearly not on protecting the privacy of the people of this province. Why this haste?”
Among the Commissioner’s preliminary concerns is the lack of clarity surrounding learning health systems, how the social determinants of health will be monitored, and the roles governance and appointment of the regional health councils and quality council. The NL NDP questions the Liberal government’s haste in tabling legislation without consultation.
“While we are facing the greatest public healthcare crisis of our lifetime, patients are lying on gurneys in emergency room hallways, the Premier is attempting to force legislation through to achieve greatest restructure of our healthcare system we have ever seen - putting patient privacy at risk,” said Dinn. “The people of this province deserve a robust public healthcare system, and the NL NDP is focused on making that happen.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca