4 Tory leadership waffle on PEI, three of them got PNP money and only Crane calls for inquiry

PEI Conservative leadership candidates – 3 out of 5 got money from the PNP scandal (illustration Charlottetown Guardian) note the atrocious coloring of the leadership montage. Only Jamie Ballem looks natural.

Tory leadership candidates Jamie Fox, Fred McCardle and Peter Llewellyn were recipients of free money from the PNP fund.

If nothing else this demonstrates how easy it was for the “politically connected” on PEI to get $45,000 to $200,000 from the PNP fund.

Did you get any?

Candidate Jamie Ballem is sitting on the fence about the PNP. “Jamie Ballem said he didn’t take part, but called it a good program.

“PNP basically kept us out of a recession: we had people working here, the injection of capital was critical,” said Ballem.

“Having said that, it was abused.” CBC “We have to move on,” he told the Guardian.

That is code for cover up.

Olive Crane (library photo Nigel Armstrong Guardian)

Only Tory leadership candidate Olive Crane has called for a public inquiry into how the PNP program was run.

Crane has been unrelenting on the subject over the past two years.

She brings it up in the Legislature and in public.

The PNP was the biggest scandal to hit PEI in history. The police investigated part of it. Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenny is investigating the PNP. The PEI Institute of Chartered Accountants is investigating one of the most respected CA firms in town over conflict of interest and transactions with the Premier’s wife and family.

CBC has launched a court challenge to open government files on the program.

IIDI, who managed the PNP, is stalling their annual report again. It’s 6 months overdue but will their former auditor’s report be respected when the audit firm is themselves under investigation for conflict of interest among other things.

Does Crane represent a break from the past with the political corruption on PEI?

Only Tory leadership candidate Olive Crane has called for a public inquiry into how the PNP program was run. Crane has been unrelenting on the subject over the past two years. She brings it up in the Legislature and in public.

Many Islanders would like to know what happened. Will the Tories be willing to open the kimono?