Peter O’Neil
Sun
CREDIT: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun Files Scaffolding and tarps cover the exterior of a concrete multi-storey building in Burnaby undergoing repairs.
OTTAWA — House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken ruled Tuesday against a British Columbia Conservative MP who said the federal government is wrongly withholding damning information into B.C.’s $1.5-billon leaky condo crisis.
Milliken, in a written response to a formal protest by John Cummins, said he doesn’t have the authority to step in and force the government to provide information to an MP.
Cummins complained his privileges as an MP trying to represent his Delta-Richmond East constituents were violated when Industry Minister David Emerson and Housing Minister Joe Fontana said they couldn’t comment on issues now subject to litigation in B.C. courts.
Cummins has uncovered internal documents which, he alleges, show the federal government knew in the early 1980s that its energy conservation programs could lead to widespread moisture damage.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005
