Ball addressed auditor general Terry Paddon’s report into the Martin severance affair, a scandal that dogged his government for much of the spring last year.
“He stepped aside. He left his job. As a matter of fact, he left his job on his own terms,” Ball said.
But Paddon explicitly said something different his report released Monday.
“Mr. Martin had no intention to voluntarily resign from his position as chief executive officer of Nalcor Energy,” Paddon reported.
Paddon found that the governemnt’s refusal to publicly express confidence in Martin amounted to circumstances for a constructive dismissal, which entitled Martin to the $6.3 million in severance, which he ended up getting.
Paddon’s report made it clear that it was the outgoing Nalcor board of directors — who resigned en masse later that day — that awarded the severance, though, and Ball didn’t actually know how much Martin would be paid.
Ball said he sees his job as premier to challenge government employees, and that’s what was happening with Martin.
“Clearly, he was interested in one thing only, and that was for me and this government to publicly support the CEO and that management team,” Ball said. “I just couldn’t go there, given all the challenges we were seeing.”
Opposition Leader Paul Davis said the fact that Ball didn’t know what was contained in Martin’s contract is shocking.
“The auditor general has said there was no substantive work done, or discussion that took place, for the premier to familiarize himself with the implications of the decision he was about to make,” Davis said.
“If he didn’t know about the contract, he didn’t do his job.”
NDP Leader Earle McCurdy said the biggest issue is the fact Ball misled the public by saying Martin resigned, and despite various questions from the public, for months Ball was evasive about the amount of severance Martin was paid.
“They tried to fudge it,” McCurdy said.
“The initial explanation was a misrepresentation of what transpired.”