In April 1992, I Alasdair McKay was laid off abruptly by the N.S. Research Foundation on grounds of redundancy, in that the corporation stated that they were discontinuing geophysical activity entirely ( survey operations in geophysics having been stated to have been discontinued in 1989). On these grounds, the NSRFC obtained a release document from me. By the fall of that year (1992) it became clear that this did not seem to be the case. I made my displeasure about this known to the Minister in charge of the NSRFC and to my MLA. Over a year later any remaining doubts were removed when, in May of 1994, I discovered that a contract ( value $70000.00 ) had been made with the N.S. Dept. of Natural Resources for geophysical work, a fact confirmed to me by that department, who sent me a copy of the contract. This contract was for work essentially identical in nature to what I had solicited almost two years earlier, and, contrary to the declared policy of the N.S. Government, no tenders had been called for the work. I discovered in 1994 that I was not the only consultant who, in 1992, had solicited such work.
It is of great interest to note that all politicians, while in opposition, will express concern over matters of this nature and while in office, will give responses designed only to cause delay or to downplay or repudiate any problem. Apparently, this is a very common phenomenon, but it may be unusual to have it so well documented as in this case.
The above circumstances break down into a number of issues.
.
1.Contravention of Stated Government Policy
It is difficult to know whether to lay the matter of the untendered
$70000.00 geophysical contract at the door of Natural
Resources or of NSRFC, but at least one of these agencies must be held
accountable.
.
2.Legal matters relating to Layoff.
As brought out by Mr. Donahoe, the reasons
given for the abrupt layoff
"appear, in the light of subsequent events, not to have been valid and are
not valid at the present time" (August 1994). In a similar vein, Mr. J. Connors is of the opinion that "
representations were made
to him (Alasdair McKay) by his employer that subsequently turned out to be
incorrect as a result of pertinent information coming to light much later."
3. Foreign Affairs.
The April 1992 layoff and the general climate
within the Research
Foundation which prevailed in the months preceding it fell close in time
to my return from a year's leave of absence in Japan. I had been given a
high commendation by Mr. Nickerson in his
putting my name forward to
the selection committee for acceptance into the program offered by the
Science and Technology Agency of Japan. No funding for this was provided
by NSRFC or by any other Canadian agency. While I was in Japan, I was
asked if I wished to extend my stay there for another year and only
refrained from doing so out of some personal concerns, mainly to do with
my children's education.
It seemed to me that the curious events of 1992 dictated that I write an addendum to my report to the Science and Technology Agency of Japan, which had been required of me by that agency. I wrote this addendum in the summer of 1993 and sent drafts of it to my MLA and to the Minister of the Economic Renewal Agency. When it became clear by late 1993 that neither my MLA nor the relevant Minister seemed to have any interest in remedial action over the whole matter, I sent my addendum to my Japanese host agency, the Geological Survey of Japan, to seek their permission to send it to the STA, making it very clear to the GSJ that if it caused them any problem or embarassment, I would not send it. They replied that it did not cause them any difficulty and subsequently, when the addendum to the report went out to its list of recipients, I received an acknowledgement of its arrival from one of my former superiors in Japan to the effect that he considered my sending of it to be a proper action.