The MHA for St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi can’t believe how things unfolded at the hands of the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation when she tried to help several people who have been living in a hotel since July after a fire on Cochrane Street.

Some of the residents, after securing a meeting with NLHC brass to see where things stand, asked Sheilagh O’Leary to accompany them. She and an assistant agreed, but were told by NLHC that they could not be at the meeting.

Furious with that directive, she told VOCM Open Line with Brian Callahan that she showed up anyway only to see the corporation just simply cancel the meeting.

“They said that this was the normal course of operations, so I questioned that and of course there’s nothing ibn their mandate or their legislation or policy that would prevent me, an elected representative from being there,” O’Leary says. “So guess what happened – the meeting was cancelled.”

She says disallowing the MHA to be part of the process is essentially NLHC trying to control the message.

Sixteen people were displaced from the Cochrane Street fire.