The provincial government is seeking a ruling from the court on whether or not the Privacy Commissioner is in a Conflict of Interest by performing his own investigation into the 2021 cyber attack on the province’s health care system.

Privacy Commissioner Michael Harvey previously served as the assistant deputy minister of health and was on the board of the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health information before being appointed as Privacy Commissioner in 2019.

The revelation surrounding government seeking a court ruling was the topic of debate in the House of Assembly this afternoon with questions raised by Opposition Leader David Brazil.

Brazil remarked it’s the first time in his 40 years as a civil servant, that he’s heard that knowledge of a civil servant is a detriment to their being able to do their job. “It’s an embarrassment,” says Brazil.

Hogan says the knowledge itself creates the conflict, and if a person is in a conflict of interest they should remove or recuse themselves from the situation. Hogan says government is asking for the court on a ruling of reasonable apprehension of bias in the matter.