Canada's former "integrity" officer has been found in Florida. After ignoring a subpoena on the advice no doubt of Harper himself, she's been on the lam.Ignoring subpoenas is Harper's m.o. When a committee was investigating the alleged election financing fraud, he told witnesses to ignore the subpoenas, then he shut down the committee and called an election, keeping everything tied up in the courts for years.
Taxpayers foot the bill.
When the Afghan Detainee issue was becoming too hot to handle, Harper told witnesses to ignore subpoenas and shut down the committee by proroguing Parliament and has kept that tied up in the courts for months.
Taxpayers foot the bill. (130 million for the prorogation alone.)
So should we be surprised that former, apparently "lack of integrity" commissioner, Christiane Ouimet, has ignored the subpoena and fled the country? And as Lawrence Martin says, Harper will drag this out in the courts, hoping to get an election out of the way before having to answer to over 200 serious fraud related charges?
There’s Bev Oda. Then there is someone who makes Ms. Oda’s actions, judging from a recent Auditor-General’s report, look rather angelic. The elusive former integrity commissioner, Christiane Ouimet, was finally located last week – in Florida. And now that she has been located, the Conservative government may face one of its stiffest tests of damage control. Ms. Ouimet (rhymes with Antoinette) is the public servant who, according to Sheila Fraser’s damning report, did not do her job properly – choosing to investigate just seven of 228 complaints about wrongdoing in the public sector – possibly saving the Harper government multiple embarrassments.Apparently many are very serious. Could we see some go to jail? I mean the Conservatives claim to be tough on crime. But then if they only stole from taxpayers it doesn't count, right?
After failing to appear before a parliamentary committee despite being subpoenaed, she sent a rather terse message to the committee through her lawyer
saying she was willing to return March 10 to face interrogators. What a show it promises to be. Given the large number of uninvestigated cases that came before
her, the possibility of smoking guns suddenly appearing on the government’s doorstep can hardly be discarded.
Sadly, this government appears to be coated with Teflon. It doesn't seem to matter what they do - and what they've done could be a book - their support base still, well, supports them.
ReplyDeleteIt is beyond my comprehension and I have to conclude that their supporters no longer care about rights and freedoms, the environment, their families, or Canada.
It hurts my heart.
--V
You're right, but even Teflon scratches off. We just have to keep scratching.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Val. It is heartbreaking to know such behaviour is not only tolerated but encouraged by the government of our once-fine country. I yearn to return to a Canada that commanded international respect by being honest, forthright and accountable itself.
ReplyDeleteThis is our reputation they're messing with, folks, this isn't just a matter of one party's policies differing from another.
We have no means whatsoever of ensuring the validity of any polls. They are conducted in private by for-profit corporations among whose biggest customers are the political parties. Among those parties, none has deeper pockets than the one in power.
ReplyDeleteAlso among their top customers are the corporate-owned media - hardly an unbiased or independent bunch - who clearly understand their mandate to shape public opinion. Those same corporations and their brethren are, likewise, their bread-and-butter accounts.
Then, to tie it up with a bow, their employees flit profitably back and forth among each other and their clients, including lucrative stints in government and/or individual party service.
The only time their published results undergo any objective scrutiny is at election time, when, typically, those results fail woefully only to be attributed to rogue factors before being shoved swiftly down the memory hole amid the many post-election distractions.
In short, polls = propaganda-by-numbers
'This government' is just like all the others. Why don't we all just refuse to vote because there are no good candidates. What if they held an election and nobody showed up to vote?
ReplyDeleteThat's what we don't want. We need everyone to vote, otherwise, what good is a democracy?
ReplyDelete