ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Newfoundland and Labrador's transportation minister quit today after the auditor general questioned his handling of the cancellation of a politically sensitive paving contract in Labrador.
Premier Paul Davis announced the resignation of Nick McGrath (mac-GRAW') just hours after auditor general Terry Paddon's report into the provincial government's decision to cancel a highway contract the day before nominations closed in March for the Progressive Conservative leadership race.
Davis said if McGrath hadn't resigned, he would have fired him for showing a lack of judgment.
Paddon was asked to review the contract with Humber Valley Paving, a company once led by Frank Coleman, who was in line to become Tory leader and premier before he suddenly withdrew from politics in June because of an undisclosed family matter.
In his report, Paddon says McGrath withheld information about the cancellation from former premier Tom Marshall.
Coleman has said he sold his shares last winter and resigned from the board of directors just before entering the leadership race, and he has repeatedly denied gaining anything personally from the contract cancellation negotiated at around the same time by his son.
