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COMMENTARY: IRAC urgently needs an overhaul

Last week, l presented to the IRAC independent review commission in Brudenell. Here is a summary of my submission.

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We have approximately 100 agencies and tribunals in P.E.I. None impact the day-to-day lives of Islanders more than IRAC. IRAC is P.E.I.’s “super” administrative agency.

After 35 years, IRAC has lost its way. A significant overhaul of the agency is urgently required. The complexity of matters regulated by IRAC (electricity, fuel, lands protection, planning, residential rent) has increased, as have tensions between consumers and providers of those essential goods and services.

As a candidate to lead one of PEI’s political parties, I spoke with hundreds of Islanders, from all walks of life, about their concerns. No one I met was satisfied with IRAC. What I heard is that IRAC has generally lost the confidence of Islanders; it is not considered to be independent, efficient, transparent, and fair. ln my view, it would be a mistake to dismiss these concerns.

I would like to raise five areas of concern:

1. IRAC’s lack of independence

The decisions makers at IRAC, the CEO and commissioners, are appointed by the government of the day. ln practice, appointments to IRAC are provided to political friends. This system of patronage undermines IRAC’s independence, leads to understandable apprehensions of bias, and harms IRAC’s reputation as a tribunal and decision maker.

Last month, government appointed a new P.E.I. Provincial Court judge. The successful candidate underwent a rigorous screening and evaluation process. All applications were evaluated by an independent committee using published criteria. The question must be asked: why is this level of scrutiny not used in selecting IRAC’s executive team and commissioners?

I suggest a reset of the current appointment process. Seek........

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