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The extraordinary public rebuke didn’t sit well with Turpel-Lafond, who said she tried to get her report – which criticized the ministry’s recent handling of a review by retired deputy Bob Plecas – introduced into the House, only to hear at the last minute it couldn’t be accommodated due to the morning question period schedule.

So Turpel-Lafond consulted a lawyer and decided to post it herself rather than wait. “This was one of those very rare circumstances where I wasn’t sure what was going on and I certainly felt somewhat stymied,” she said in an interview.

“I was also concerned that the report be made public and so I made the move to do that.”

To complicate matters, someone tipped off the Ministry of Children and Family Development about the sensitive report within minutes of the representative’s office first mentioning the document to the Speaker’s office on Tuesday, April, 26, said Turpel-Lafond. She said that leak could only have come from the Speaker’s office.

“Well, the Ministry of Children and Families director of communications called my office within three minutes and said, ‘What is the report?’ So I don’t know who else would have done it. It’s awkward because there are occasions, and this is one of them, when I need to have a report released,” said Turpel-Lafond.

A protocol from the legislature’s clerk asks for at least two day’s notice before tabling a report, but Turpel-Lafond said she never agreed to that protocol and feels her enabling legislation supersedes the requirement.