Government members of an oversight committee in Newfoundland and Labrador's legislature defeated an Opposition bid to examine a $15-million investment in a fibre optic deal.

Conservative members of the public accounts committee overruled Liberals who had wanted to explore whether the deal — which involves former business associates of Premier Danny Williams — was in the public interest.

Eddie Joyce said the public accounts committee should be allowed to review government investment in a new fibre optic network.
(CBC)

Williams said earlier this week he would not oppose a review by Auditor General John Noseworthy.

However, Eddie Joyce, the Liberal MHA who chairs the committee, said that's not enough because the auditor general cannot call witnesses or issues subpoenas.

"They're well aware of it because we've done it before. The only thing I can think is they didn't want the public to view this deal, have questions asked in public and have witnesses subpoenaed," Joyce told CBC News.

Shawn Skinner, a Tory backbencher who is parliamentary assistant to the premier, said government members of the committee felt it is too soon to head straight to public hearings.

"The process is that the auditor general does an investigation, does a report, presents those findings to the public accounts committee," Skinner said.

"We felt we were circumventing the auditor general if we went to public hearings right away without having the benefit of his investigation and his expertise on it," he said.

Skinner described the Liberal call for public hearings as purely political.

The Liberals have accused the Williams government of cronyism and bias in government's decision to invest in an unsolicited, untendered fibre optic network that will compete with an existing Bell Aliant network.

The consortium behind the $52-million project includes Rogers Communications, Persona Communications and MTS Allstream.

Two executives with those companies worked for Williams when he owned Cable Atlantic, which he sold to Rogers before entering politics. Dean MacDonald is the president and chief executive officer of Persona, while Marshall is a Rogers vice-president.

Williams and other government officials have said the deal was made for business reasons only, to spur innovation and provide a backup if the Bell Aliant system should fail.