Still, the board served as a watchdog, often criticizing blatant patronage appointments. Now there won't be any such safeguard in place.
Appointments that come to mind are those of people like Kevin MacAdam, a former provincial Conservative minister under Premier Pat Binns. Patrick Dorsey and Kent Estabrooks lost their ability to hire staff following Mr. MacAdam's appointment.
No safeguards whatsoever will remain. What assurance do we have that there won't be any favouritism, now that no one is performing the watchdog function the board used to?