Under fire from opposition, premier defends moving Carla Foote back to government

The provincial Liberals are once again taking heat over Carla Foote, this time because The Rooms' former marketing manager is the new assistant deputy minister for the provincial Office of Public Engagement.

Premier Dwight Ball told reporters on Thursday that he has "fixed" the issue, after the government faced criticism over Foote's hiring without competition for the executive-level position at The Rooms,the province's archives, museum and art gallery.

"There was significant feedback," acknowledgedBall. A subsequent reportinvestigated cabinet minister Christopher Mitchelmore for violating the provincial government's code of conduct.

Ball said discussions took place shortly after Christmas with cabinet secretariesto find possible open positions for Foote. He added that he personally wasnot involved in the discussions and did not speak to Footedirectly about the job.

"Carla Footedid nothing wrong in all of this," Ball said Friday. "She deserved to have a job"

Foote was also a longtime Liberal staffer, and is the daughter of former federal and provincial cabinet minister, and current lieutenant-governor, Judy Foote.

According to a spokesperson from The Rooms, as a result of Foote's resignation there is no severance owing to her.

"The independent appointments commission is currently recruiting for the permanent CEO position for The Rooms. Once that is filled, the board of directors will conduct an organizational review to ensure The Rooms is well positioned for the future," The Rooms spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement.

"The marketing function will be reviewed at that time. In the interim, we will evaluate temporary options to meet the immediate needs of the organization."

On Thursday, the chair of The Rooms' board of directors confirmedFoote is resigning fromher position, effective Feb. 19.

Foote will begin her new job on Feb. 20.

The opposition

Provincial NDP LeaderAlison Coffin said she's confused by government's decision to move Foote tothe Office of Public Engagement, a role Coffin said should be non-partisan.

"So what we've done now, we've taken a very prominent Liberal and put them in the Office of Public Engagement, which ought to be very unbiased,"Coffin told CBC News on Friday.

Progressive Conservative Leader Ches Crosbie said the Foote move is "more of the same" from the provincial Liberals, and echoed Coffin's opinion that the job should be non-partisan.

"We know that she's a dyed-red Liberal partisan. I don't think that's appropriate," Crosbie said.

"What we're seeing with Ms. Foote, being appointed to an executive position in the government, is yet another example of known Liberals being inserted into the top public service.The top public service is supposed to be neutral and serve the interest of any government of whatever stripe."

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