This Oughta' be Good...

This could turn out to be quite a challenge... having Valerie explain her "daytimer" or having her explain how her department blew $400,000.00 of taxpayers’ money... either way it certainly will be entertaining... and while she's there let's find out if she got those "Bay City Rollers" ready to rock this summer....
Island man requests copy of Tourism minister's day book
WAYNE THIBODEAU
The Guardian
A P.E.I. man says he was so surprised to learn that Tourism Minister Valerie Docherty couldn’t find time to appear before a legislative standing committee for up to eight weeks that he’s demanding to see her day book. Dan Aiken of Charlottetown has made a formal request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPP) for a copy of Docherty’s day book for the months of January, February and March. And it appears he may get his wish.Aiken made his request late last month after staff in Docherty’s office said the minister wouldn’t be able to appear before the public accounts committee until March 25. The public accounts committee wants to know more about the provincial government’s decision to fund the failed Alanis Morissette concert. That concert lost more than $400,000 in taxpayers money. Aiken, who is president of the Conservative Campus Club, said he believes Docherty may be dodging the public accounts committee. “Is she really this busy?” he asked. But Docherty said she’s not dodging the public accounts committee, and she said the whole story was never told about her schedule. The tourism minister said she was given four dates over an eight-week period to appear before the public accounts committee. She said she wasn’t available for three of those four dates. There was never an option to choose other dates, she added. “I was given four dates. The four dates coincided with items that I just could not reschedule, one of which was a personal test at the hospital,” Docherty told The Guardian. “The unfortunate thing is the way it was reported made it sound like I absolutely had nothing available. But it wasn’t like, ‘you pick the date.’ I was offered dates that conflicted, that’s all.” The P.E.I. legislature confirms that Docherty will now appear before the public accounts committee March 4, as opposed to the original date chosen of March 25. The Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island is holding its annual meeting on March 4 and 5 but the tourism minister said she does not have to be at the meetings until that afternoon. So the minister agreed to appear before the committee at 10:30 a.m. Docherty said a precedent has been set in other jurisdictions for the release of minister’s day books, and she expects her day book will be made public. “I don’t even have any say in it,” said the minister. “If legal counsel says ‘yes, you have to’ then we will (release it.)” Kevin Jenkins, the FOIPP co-ordinator for the Department of Tourism, said it’s the first time in the history of the act in P.E.I. that a minister’s day book has been requested. He said that’s why they are seeking a legal opinion before it is released. The province has an initial 30 days to response to information requests, but can ask for an extension. But Jenkins said if the day book is released, it will have a lot of information excluded. “There are certain pieces of information in the minister's calendar related to personal appointments, regarding personal information, regarding individual’s names, there are certain things that must be edited according to the FOIPP?act,” he said. Aiken said he may get the day book, but he suspects he won’t get it until after the minister appears before public accounts. “There’s the appearance they are holding out (in releasing the day book) until the minister actually does appear at the public accounts committee, which would then put aside any potential embarrassment or loss of face for the minister who claimed to be busy all day, everyday for an extended period of time.”