Government backs down in fight with Child and Youth rep
VICTORIA/CKNW AM 980
Sean Leslie
5/18/2010

The provincial government is backing down.

Deputy Minister to the Premier, Allan Seckel has announced the government will not seek passage of section 36 of Bill 20.

That section would have prevented access to cabinet documents by independent Child and Youth Representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.

Seckel has written a letter to former judge Ted Hughes, who has offered to mediate a dispute between the representative and the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

Seckel says the government would like to begin discussions immediately with a goal of resolving the dispute before the legislature rises on June third.

And he says in the meantime, the legislation will be shelved.