The Liberal Official Opposition is disappointed and appalled to learn that 5600 SkillsPEI clients had sensitive information exposed in a significant privacy breach.
“This incident happened on June 13 while the Legislature was still in session,” said Official Opposition Workforce Critic Robert Henderson. “The Minister had ample opportunity to inform Islanders of this mismanagement. Why did the Minister hide this story for a full month?’
This privacy breach exposed sensitive information, including names, addresses and social insurance numbers.
This happened while the Government was rushing to close the legislature, extending the sitting hours to midnight and ensuring one of the shortest legislative sittings in recent history. They had Minister of Workforce, Advanced Learning, and Population Jen Redmond present her budget estimates in the late hours of the night.
“It is clear the King Government did not want questions asked about how poor this Department has been performing and did whatever they could to run from the accountability of this significant privacy breach,” said Henderson. “This Department continues to be shrouded in secrecy. This privacy breach happened while the Department was dealing with the UPEI harassment and discrimination report and the unexplained move of a SkillsPEI office out of O’Leary. It is time for this Minister to be straight with Islanders.”
“The fact that the Minister hid this information from the public for four weeks is unacceptable. This Government is continuously in crisis. We need clear leadership from the Premier and his Ministers, and it starts with transparency and honesty. You cannot claim to be for the people when you hide information from them for weeks.”
The Liberal Official Opposition continues to wait for comment from the Minister.
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Media Contact
Robert Godfrey
Office of the Official Opposition
902-388-0465
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