Tag: Media Updates

Media Update for March 25, 2010

News Summary and Comment:

In today’s media update, there seems to be a real war of words in the Rights and Democracy controversy. For those of you who haven’t been following, Rights and Democracy is a government funded agency with a mandate to fund international organizations in support of, well, rights and democracy. The agency came to public attention when president Remy Beauregard died suddenly following an acrimonious meeting with his board.

Subsequently, it came out that the board had essentially been secretly and not-so-secretly undermining Beauregard, including, for example, secret performance reviews and a (false) accusation that he met with Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.

After Beauregard’s death, three employees publicly expressed their lack of confidence in the board and were fired as a result.

The opposition parties have been all over this, claiming that the governing Tories didn’t like Beauregard’s approach and that they wanted a more pro-Israeli line in Rights and Democracy. The announcement of Gérard Latulippe, a man with connections to the Conservatives, was met with protest.

The Conservatives, on the other hand, have been either silent or have argued that the issue was one of accountability, not ideology.

This week, the much maligned board of the group came out swinging with an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen, Senator Linda Frum supported the board in Macleans, and Macleans blogger Paul Wells rebutted. Also, Rights and Democracy board chair Aurel Braun first promised to come before Parliamentary committee – then cancelled.

While it is tempting to pin this all on political machinations, I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t just or also a case of malicious and incompetent management gotten out of control.

For me, it’s the board’s Citizen op-ed that pushes me in that direction. The piece is so self-serving, so arrogant and so disingenuous that I have to conclude that this lot care about nothing but their own self-interest. Early in the piece, they proclaim that this story “should have disappeared long ago” – as if they should be the ones who decide.

They also claim that the crisis “was self-created by staff within the organization”, pretending that they had nothing at all to do with it. Even if it were true, it would be an admission of negligence and incompetence. They’re the board. Are they saying they had no idea that staff were dissatisfied? And that they did nothing to address the problem?

“Accountability is the issue that should be the sole rallying point at Rights and Democracy. Alas, accountability seems to suit no one’s agenda except that of the board and the taxpayer,” they argue later.

Really? What of, um, rights and democracy?

These people also seem unaware of the irony of cracking down on staff who have expressed their opinions. Now don’t get me wrong – if a typical employee openly calls for his boss’ firing, he shouldn’t be surprised if he himself gets fired. But this is not a typical organization or a typical situation – it even has shades of whistleblowing. In any event, the public scrutiny would have had any sensible, thinking person wondering whether a summary firing was the best approach. But they seem to think that firing was the only option available to them. Nothing else, not some sort of conciliatory meeting, not mediation. Just firing. In the context of the situation, it looks thuggish. It also says a lot about their management methods.

This is all only worsened by the board’s statement that they welcome public hearings, and then suddenly declining to appear before Parliamentary committee.

So while there may indeed be a political dimension to this – I can’t say because I simply don’t know – I do think it safe to say that the board is composed of people who are, shall we say, ill-suited for their jobs, clumsy and destined to bring more disrepute to the organization. One just hopes that the government recognizes this and corrects the situation.

Have a good weekend.

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War of Words over Rights and Democracy

Afghan Detainee Documents Dispute Continues

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Authority Reviews

More Abuse of Freedom of Information and Privacy Laws

New Study Shows Weakness of Anonymous Whistleblowing Systems

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War of Words over Rights and Democracy

The real trouble at Rights and Democracy
Macleans, March 22, 2010
Summary: The sudden death in January of Remy Beauregard has injected an element of sorrow to the situation, but it does not alter a public body’s duty to account for public money. By January 2010, even Beauregard finally came to the conclusion that giving money to Al Haq (and like organizations) was wrong and voted to repudiate it. But the staff he left behind remain resentful of the board’s scrutiny. (Column)

Rights and Democracy: Let 100 schools of thought contend
Macleans, March 22, 2010
Summary: The current print edition of Maclean’s contains a guest column from Sen. Linda Frum, a friend of this magazine who pauses to say some nice things about me while attempting a general rebuttal of my coverage of the Rights and Democracy controversy. (Blog)

We welcome public hearings on Rights and Democracy
Ottawa Citizen, March 22, 2010
Summary: Rights and Democracy is a news story that keeps on giving. Why? It’s everyone’s favourite political football. Two recent op-eds in this paper alone presented distorted views on a story that should have disappeared long ago. As members of the board of directors, we must once again state the obvious: there is no right-wing agenda imposed on this autonomous organization; and it is not all about Israel. There is, however, an internal revolt against accountability, and there is interference and exploitation by outsiders who willingly propagate convenient fantasies for their own ends. (Op-ed)

Rights&Democracy Watch: Chairman Braun regrets…
CBC News, March 22, 2010
Summary: The last-minute cancellation of Chairman Brau’s appearance, which he had confirmed as recently as last week, comes on the very same day that an op-ed screed under his name and those of other board members appeared in newspapers across the country, calling on “Parliament to hold public hearings” into the state of affairs at the beleaguered organization, “so that facts can replace fantasies.” One can only conclude that a parliamentary committee isn’t quite what he has in mind.

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Afghan Detainee Documents Dispute Continues

New Afghan detainee documents released
CBC News, March 25, 2010
Summary: The federal government has tabled about 2,500 pages of heavily redacted documents related to the Afghan detainee controversy in the House of Commons. The presentation sparked immediate outrage from opposition MPs, who have been trying to get the Conservative government to honour a parliamentary order to release the documents pertaining to the handling of Afghan detainees without heavily blacked-out redactions.

Droits et Démocratie: deux témoins se défilent
La Presse, March 22, 2010
Summary: Deux dirigeants au coeur de la crise à Droits et Démocratie, le président par intérim, Jacques Gauthier, et le numéro 1 du conseil d’administration, Aurel Braun, ont annulé, lundi, leur comparution devant le comité des Affaires étrangères, prévue pour aujourd’hui.

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Newfoundland and Labrador Health Authority Reviews

Toxic conditions cited in Eastern Health lab review
CBC News, March 15, 2010
Summary: The lab at Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest health authority is plagued by intimidated staff, a toxic working environment and distrust between colleagues, an external review has found.

Many recommendations from botched cancer test probe already acted on
Globe and Mail, March 25, 2010
Summary: Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister Jerome Kennedy claimed his government has acted on 39 of 60 recommendations made by an inquiry into botched breast cancer tests. He cited improvements to equipment, oversight and the introduction of apology legislation to protect caregivers who apologize for mistakes.

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More Abuse of Freedom of Information and Privacy Laws

I Avoid the Word Privacy (And You Should Too)
Information, March 2, 2010
Summary: A blog posting by Pierrot Péladeau on the definitions of privacy, and how the meaning has inadvertently – and inappropriately – been expanded in law beyond its true meaning, rendering the functioning of government more difficult. (Blog)

There was probably nothing to find in search for the truth about Liberal financial forecast
Vancouver Sun, March 25, 2010
Summary: The New Democratic Party lost no time following the last election pursuing suspicions that the B.C. Liberals had misled voters about the deteriorating state of provincial finances. The final results were not yet certified when the Opposition filed a formal request under access to information law for any and all updates to the minister of finance on provincial revenue forecasts in the months leading up to election day.

Privacy rules limit government services
Times Colonist (Victoria), March 25, 2010
Summary: The safety of victims of domestic violence is jeopardized by the lack of clear authority in B.C.’s information and privacy law for the sharing of important information, MLAs were told yesterday.

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New Study Shows Weakness of Anonymous Whistleblowing Systems

Anonymous Whistle-Blowing Systems Are Often Dysfunctional
Newswise, March 25, 2010
Summary: Landmark regulations designed to detect and deter financial fraud via anonymous whistle-blowers can be dysfunctional and ineffective, according to new research from the University of Hampshire.

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Media Update for March 22, 2010

News Summary and Comment:

This Monday, as many in the past, the document dispute in the Afghan detainee controversy continues to dominate accountability news. Where things stand now is that the federal government has hired retired justice Frank Iacobucci to review documents which it claims are too sensitive to release unedited to Parliamentarians. The Opposition, meanwhile, is having none of that: it wants to see the documents now, not at some undefined point in the future, and it’s threatening to put several Ministers in contempt of Parliament if it doesn’t get its way.

Someone has now proposed that a limited number of Parliamentarians with security clearances review the documents. Several experts have endorsed this approach.

The agency Rights and Democracy is also still in the news as the Conservatives are attempting to block the widow of the late President Remy Beauregard from testifying in Parliamentary committee, claiming, essentially that it would be too emotionally charged. They also want to block the testimony of some employees who were fired for their dissidence. Hmm. Not very transparent.

Expenses of MPs and top bureaucrats are coming under closer scrutiny. Or rather, the lack of scrutiny is coming under scrutiny. The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, following up on its extensive coverage of Nova Scotia’s recent MLA expenses scandal, ran a long piece on MP expenses being immune from outside audit and reported some self-serving justifications and disingenuousness on the part of MPs. Meanwhile, the Hill Times reports that a certain Drew McPherson has developed a website that compiles ministers’ and bureaucrats’ travel and hospitality expenses. Great work, Drew – I tip my hat to you. Now all we need is for someone to do an audit of reported versus unreported expenses…

On to Chander Grover. You remember him, don’t you? Well, you can be forgiven if you don’t. Chander was run out of the National Research Council some 23 years ago. He has won multiple rulings in tribunals and courts since then, but the NRC continues to stonewall. Why? Because it’s not their money they’re spending to defend the indefensible – it’s yours, so the joke’s on you. In any event, the South Asia Mail ran a number of pieces on him this week.

Three international stories show the importance of whistleblowers, and how they are still being persecuted even where laws exist to protect them. The first involves a study about to be reported in the The Journal of Finance that shows that whistleblowers are the biggest source of information on corporate malfeasance in the U.S. (about 17%), followed closely by short-sellers and stock analysts. In contrast, the Securities and Exchange Commission – the regulatory authority – only accounted for 6% of cases. This, I think, is the result of bureaucratic incompetence and the willingness of regulators to trust people who appear to be respected authority figures. That is, they’re easy dupes.

Two other cases provide evidence. In one, a letter has surfaced showing that a whistleblower tried to stop the abuses and chicanery that led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings – the largest corporate collapse in U.S. (and probably world) history. His reward? A summary firing. Meanwhile, in the U.K., The Guardian reports that whistleblowers are still being hammered by employers for reporting wrongdoing 10 years after passing laws intended to protect them

Here in Canada, where we lag both countries in both attitudes and laws regarding whistleblowers, I just wish we had some party would take this up as an issue. Sigh.

See you Thursday.

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Afghan Detainee Documents Dispute Continues

Rights and Democracy under Scrutiny in Parliamentary Committee

Calls for Closer Scrutiny of MP Expenses

The South Asia Mail Denounces Treatment of Former NRC Scientist Chander Grover

Efforts to Keep Tommy Douglas File From Public Criticized

Study – and Stories – Show that Regulators Much Less Effective than Whistleblowers

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Afghan Detainee Documents Dispute Continues

Opposition threatens contempt motion over Afghan torture documents
The Star (Toronto), March 18, 2010
Summary: The opening volley was fired Thursday over what could become a protracted constitutional war over Parliament’s right to know versus the government’s right to keep secrets. Fed up with months of government foot-dragging on their demand for uncensored documents related to the alleged torture of Afghan detainees, opposition MPs sought a formal ruling from the Speaker of the House of Commons that their parliamentary privileges have been breached.

Farewell, soon-to-be-former Deputy Attorney General John H. Sims
CBCNews, March 19, 2010
Summary: Yes, according to the Department of Justice, earlier this week, Deputy Minister John H. Sims — a three-plus-decade veteran of the civil service — gave notice, via widely-distributed letter, that he would be leaving his post, effective April 1. The news apparently provoked mild-to-middling surprise on the mandarin circuit, since generally speaking, the imminent departure of such a senior official would have been telegraphed months in advance, and not announced in a brief note just two weeks before his last day on the job. The timing is especially curious given how deeply enmeshed in the Afghan detainee controversy his soon to be former department has become, particularly given yesterday’s Questions of Privilege. (Blog posting)

Security-cleared parliamentary panel could review Afghan detainee documents: experts
Winnipeg Free Press, March 21, 2010
Summary: Setting up a special committee of senior parliamentarians to examine sensitive documents about Afghan detainees could help defuse a brewing political crisis over access to the information, intelligence experts say.

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Rights and Democracy under Scrutiny in Parliamentary Committee

Tories aim to block testimony from widow of rights group head
The Star (Toronto), March 18, 2010
Summary: Conservative MPs are thwarting the grieving widow of former Rights and Democracy president Remy Beauregard from testifying at a Commons committee. Suzanne Trepanier has requested permission to appear at the Foreign Affairs committee to defend her husband’s record and provide her version of events that she believes contributed to Beauregard’s fatal heart attack in January following an agency board meeting.

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Calls for Closer Scrutiny of MP Expenses

State secrets
The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax), March 22, 2010
Summary: The expense spending of federal MPs has never been subjected to the same kind of audit that uncovered abuses in Nova Scotia and other legislatures, and although MPs from all parties say rules are tighter in Ottawa, they also refuse to open the books to auditor general Sheila Fraser to confirm that there is no waste.

A new website compiles ministers’ and top bureaucrats’ travel and hospitality disclosures, neatly
The Hill Times (Ottawa), March 22, 2010
Summary: When 33-year-old web developer Drew Mcpherson waited in a Halifax doctor’s office in 2007, reading a Maclean’s magazine article headlined, “Your tax dollars at work,” on proactive disclosure in the post-George Radwanski bureaucracy and how senior officials were still spending lavishly, he decided to do something about it. (Note: available to subscribers only)

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The South Asia Mail Denounces Treatment of Former NRC Scientist Chander Grover

State-sponsored Racial Discrimination in Canada: Racial Discrimination of Dr. Grover by the NRC
The South Asia Mail, March 22, 2010
Summary: Dr. Chander P. Grover, a Canadian citizen of South Asian descent, has been the victim of “state sponsored” racial discrimination for 23 years orchestrated by his employer, the National Research Council with the backing of several Central Agencies of the Government of Canada.

An eloquent example of racial discrimination in Canada
The South Asia Mail, March 22, 2010
Summary: Racial discrimination is very much alive in Canada. It is highly prevalent in the federal public service.

Dr. Grover: Where does the truth lie?
The South Asia Mail, March 22, 2010
Summary: The case of Dr. Chander P. Grover against the National Research Council (NRC) and his twenty-two year ordeal for racial equality has been narrated on many occasions and well chronicled in court proceedings, in Parliament Hansards, in academic studies in law and in the media. As we have just observed March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I ask our honourable Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to restore moral integrity and in the interests of the public and the nation, to end this shameful travesty of justice. (Editorial)

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Efforts to Keep Tommy Douglas File From Public Criticized

Is bid to hide Tommy Douglas’s file insidious or just silly?
The Vancouver Sun, March 19, 2010
Summary: The idea that the disclosure of people and tactics used 40 to 60 years ago or more will threaten continuing business suggests that CSIS is still using methods that, if exposed, would offend not only public sensibilities but perhaps even the law. Given the trust we must have in CSIS, that suspicion is intolerable. (Column)

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Study – and Stories – Show that Regulators Much Less Effective than Whistleblowers

Whistle-blowers find more corporate fraud than regulators, study finds
The Dallas Morning News, March 22, 2010
Summary: I bet cunning corporate pooh-bahs who have stolen from a company, ripped off shareholders or bilked the government fear most a visit from a Securities and Exchange Commission regulator. If so, their worries may be misplaced. The SEC surprisingly is just a minor player on the fraud-busting front. Chances are, any corporate shenanigans coming to light will be from a trusted aide or embittered employee- turned-whistle-blower.

Whistleblower in Lehman Brothers was Ignored before Collapse

Letter: Lehman Accounting Tricks Possibly Illegal
ABC News, March 18, 2010
Summary: A Lehman Brothers whistleblower warned his bosses that accounting gimmicks the bank used before its collapse may have been illegal, his lawyer said Friday. Matthew Lee, a former Lehman senior vice president, was fired days after questioning the accounting tricks in a letter to his superiors, attorney Erwin Shustak said. Shustak gave a copy of the letter to The Associated Press. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. imploded in September 2008, becoming the biggest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history.

The Lehman Whistleblower’s Letter
The Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2010
Summary: Here is the letter that placed the little-known Lehman executive at the center of allegations that Lehman manipulated its numbers and misled investors. (Blog posting)

Report in UK Shows Reprisals Still Common 10 Years After Whistleblower Protection Law Passed

Tenfold rise in whistleblower cases taken to tribunal
The Guardian (Manchester), March 22, 2010
Summary: The number of employees claiming to have been sacked, mistreated or bullied for exposing corrupt practices at work has increased tenfold over the last decade, according to official figures. The figures, compiled for the first time, will increase fears among campaigners that whistleblowers are being deliberately undermined or removed from their workplace, despite repeated promises to protect them. The information was collated by the charity Public Concern at Work in a report into 10 years of whistleblower protection.

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by Ian Bron on March 22, 2010
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Media Update for March 18, 2010

News Summary and Comment:

My lead story today is again the Afghan detainee controversy. Parliamentary committees are again sitting, which gives Liberal and NDP MPs a new opportunity to bang their shoes on the desk. Unfortunately for them, retired justice Frank Iacobucci has been given the responsibility of reviewing sensitive documents before the MPs can see them. This means that they will be lucky to have any fresh evidence within the next couple of years — unless, of course, they find some other way to put the squeeze on the government.

Pundits generally agree that the average Canadian doesn’t care too much what happens in Afghanistan, but this seems to miss the point. The controversy is (or should be) about accountability. If the Liberals really wanted to make hay from this, they would hit hard from that angle. But then they have a few skeletons of their own on that front. I also still maintain that if anyone is going to review the documents, it should be an expert in the field — such as a former Information Commissioner.

A whistleblower has spoken out about the abuse of workers employed by the Canadian Red Cross to rebuild communities after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Apparently some were abandoned without pay, thousands of miles from home. The Red Cross acknowledges that there were some problems, but said that they were minor and that everything had been addressed.

Transport Canada, meanwhile, has done a major about-face on aviation safety. After years of saying that safety management systems — a form of self-regulation akin to what was in place in food safety prior to the 2008 listeriosis outbreak — is the bee’s knees, they are yanking business aviation oversight back from the Canadian Business Aircraft Association. This follows a very critical report by the Transportation Safety Board. No mention about the inherent flaws in the SMS approach or about departmental culpability, of course. That would mean admitting they were wrong and that Transport Canada management had been advocating for years for a system that endangers Canadians.

In a new twist, government agencies are now twisting privacy laws to prevent scrutiny of their actions. In a case that was reported in the Toronto Star, Department of Foreign Affairs officials are refusing to grant access to information pertaining to a young woman who went missing in Syria. The requestors? Her family, which believes the department has information that might help them find her — information they also now suspect may embarrass government officials.

This turns the intent of privacy law on its head. Such laws are intended to protect Canadians from the prying eyes of government, not to protect government officials from scrutiny. This isn’t restricted to the federal government, either: Saskatchewan’s Information and Privacy Commissioner just dinged the provincial Ministry of Health.

Have a good weekend.

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Afghan Detainee Documents to be Reviewed by Iacobucci

Red Cross Whistleblower Exposes Abuse of Indonesian Workers

Major Changes in Aviation Safety

The Abuse of Privacy and Access Laws

CFIA Again Under Fire

Rights and Democracy under Scrutiny in Parliamentary Committee

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Afghan Detainee Documents to be Reviewed by Iacobucci

More power urged for judge vetting Afghan-detainee papers
Globe and Mail, March 16, 2010
Summary: The Liberals are urging the government to give more powers to the retired Supreme Court judge who will decide which documents to make public on the Afghan detainee issue. During Question Period yesterday, Liberal MP Bob Rae said lawyer Frank Iacobucci should be able to see all of the documents he wants, and not just those provided by the government.

Canada broke pledges on Afghan jails, letters show
Globe and Mail, March 16, 2010
Summary: Canada and its allies have repeatedly promised — and failed — to build a new prison in Afghanistan where transferred detainees could be interned without risk of abuse, torture or ill-treatment and where Afghan guards could be mentored and trained in treating battlefield captives within the bounds of international law, according to Afghan secret police documents.

Canadians transfer prisoners to possible torture, hearing told
The Star (Toronto), March 17, 2010
Summary: Detainees handed over to Afghan authorities by Canadian soldiers still face a substantial risk of torture, a civil rights lawyer has told MPs.

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Red Cross Whistleblower Exposes Abuse of Indonesian Workers

Red Cross tsunami workers abused
CBC News, March 17, 2010
Summary: Some construction workers hired by the Canadian Red Cross to help rebuild communities following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami were left stranded and never paid for their work, according to an investigation by Radio-Canada.

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Major Changes in Aviation Safety

Many Canadian runways still too short: safety board
Globe and Mail, March 16, 2010
Summary: Major runways at Canadian airports are still too short — increasing the risk of planes overshooting the runway like the Air France jet that crashed and burned five years ago at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, the Transportation Safety Board is warning. In a blast against government inaction, the independent federal body said its recommendation for the creation of 300-metre safety areas at the end of major runways has been ignored by Ottawa and the country’s big airports.

Transport Canada shakes up aviation safety
The Star (Toronto), March 16, 2010
Summary: Transport Canada has reversed course on a major initiative to offload aviation oversight and let an industry lobby group police the safety of the business aircraft sector. Transport Minister John Baird announced Tuesday that the federal experiment that gave the Canadian Business Aircraft Association the job of licensing and overseeing business aviation — everything from single-engine Pipers to corporate jets — would be ending.

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The Abuse of Privacy and Access Laws

Ottawa’s absurd secrecy
The Star (Toronto), March 14, 2010
Summary: Why are Canadian officials obtusely imposing a veil of secrecy on the disappearance of Nicole Vienneau in Syria? As national affairs writer Linda Diebel reported in the Sunday Star, Ottawa is preventing her family from seeing federal files on the case, on the absurd pretext that to do so would violate her privacy rights, of all things. (Editorial)

Privacy has its limits
National Post, March 16, 2010
Summary: In recent years, governments at every level have made a fetish of privacy. For the most part, this has been part of a good-faith effort to protect ordinary Canadians from identity theft, unwanted publicity, and other pitfalls of the information age. Unfortunately, the privacy doctrine is also being used as a fig leaf by cynical government officials who wish to hide embarrassing information. (Editorial)

Privacy Law Nightmare
The Star (Toronto), March 16, 2010
Summary: I wrote Sunday about the bureaucratic maze faced by a family who ran into a wall when trying to access information about a family member missing in Syria for three years. Federal privacy officials told Kathryn Murray she couldn’t get the requested documents relating to her missing daughter, Nicole Vienneau, without Nicole’s permission. It’s a cliché to say it’s Kafkaesque, but it is. Since Sunday, I’ve heard from many readers in similar circumstances, frustrated by officials who cite the law when withholding important information, including one woman who couldn’t get what she needed relating to her husband who died on federal property. (Editorial)

Privacy commissioner says Sask. Health unreasonable over information request
Winnipeg Free Press, March 17, 2010
Summary: Saskatchewan’s privacy commissioner says the provincial Health Ministry charged excessive fees for a request for access to information.

Saskatchewan NDP wants release of Douglas files
Globe and Mail, March 17, 2010
Summary: He may be the “Greatest Canadian,” but Tommy Douglas’s life as a cloak-and-dagger target remains a state secret – something his old political party wants to change. Saskatchewan NDP leader Dwain Lingenfelter yesterday introduced a motion that demands CSIS release its classified file on the firebrand political leader.

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CFIA Again Under Fire

Agriculture minister defends Canada’s food inspection system
National Post, March 15, 2010Summary: Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz defended Canada’s food-safety system on Monday after internal records surfaced showing the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is scrambling to maintain an increased presence at meat processing plants to adhere to American food-safety standards.

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Rights and Democracy under Scrutiny in Parliamentary Committee

Rights&DemocracyWatch: Meanwhile, in another part of the parliamentary forest
CBC News, March 18, 2010
Summary: Taking a brief pause from our continuing coverage of the battle for parliamentary supremacy, a brief update on the latest developments on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and its efforts to investigate the current state of affairs at the embattled agency

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by Ian Bron on March 18, 2010
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Media Update for March 15, 2010

News Summary and Comment:

There’s a lot of accountability news to cover today. First off, it seems that we may be starting a new listeriosis outbreak. Two people have been hospitalized in Ontario — with five deaths also being investigated.  The firm being connected to this is Siena Foods Ltd. Now, this could turn out to be nothing, or it could turn out to be 2008 all over again. If it’s the latter, then I hope Canadians will demand Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz‘s head on a plate of a thousand cold cuts.

In my second story, former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci will be reviewing documents pertaining to the Afghan detainee controversy. It seems uncertain at this point whether he will be reviewing them all, or just those that have already been released. At $600 per hour, I’m sure he’s hoping it’s the former. I have to wonder, though: why are we paying this man, who is not a national security expert and has never spent a day of his life outside an ivory tower, to do this work and at this rate? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to hire someone who was, I don’t know, experienced in the field? Like, say, a former Information Commissioner? And not the last one, either.

In Nova Scotia, the MLA expenses scandal refuses to die out despite the pleadings of the Premier. This week, it was the Liberals who were caught up in the maelstrom as a “popular” MLA resigned suddenly. Although no reasons were given, he was facing an audit and had apparently engaged a lawyer. A bit suspicious, some might say. In any event, people are now waiting to see what it was that prompted this decision.

Academia has a new scandal to call its own. It seems that a star researcher from Alberta was using hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-funded grants from NSERC to buy luxury items for himself rather than fund his research — some of which, it has been reported, was plagiarized. This has prompted a lifetime ban from those government grants and calls for greater accountability. Specifically, there are calls to have the names of scientists caught in these kinds of misconduct published. This appears to be the practice in the U.S., although Canadian privacy laws may make that difficult.

In the Hill Times this week, Ken Rubin has a column on something that has been bothering me for some time: the awful state of information management in government, and the effect it has on our right of access to government information. The linkage is pretty simple: if an organization manages its information so poorly that it becomes impossible or impossibly expensive to retrieve information, then, in effect, access to information is denied. And that should be against the law.

See you Thursday.

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A New Listeriosis Outbreak?

Afghan Detainee Documents to be Reviewed by Iacobucci

N.S. MLA Expenses Scandal Hits Liberals as “Popular” MLA Resigns

Abuse of Science Grants Highlights Accountability Problems in Academia

Former Rights and Democracy Member Speaks Out

The Link between Information Management and Information Access

Quebec Construction Union Opposes Corruption Inquiry

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A New Listeriosis Outbreak?

Link made between listeriosis cases and deli meat
Vancouver Sun, March 12, 2010
Summary: Ontario’s chief medical officer confirmed Friday a “genetic fingerprint” between two recent listeriosis cases and contaminated deli meat produced at a federally regulated meat plant — the first such match since Canada was rocked in the summer of 2008 with a deadly outbreak.

Listeria spike in Ontario triggers deaths and hospitalizations – who knew what when?
Bites, March 13, 2010
Summary: Robert Cribb of the Toronto Star is reporting tonight that two Ontarians were hospitalized — and another two deaths are being investigated — in relation to a listeria outbreak traced to a Toronto deli meat manufacturer. (Blog posting)

Ontario to review five deaths in listeriosis investigation
Vancouver Sun, March 13, 2010
Summary: An investigation into listeria-contaminated deli meat in Ontario will now include the review of five deaths, the province said Saturday.

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Afghan Detainee Documents to be Reviewed by Iacobucci

Ottawa reveals terms for judge’s review of Afghan documents
CBC News, March 8, 2010
Summary: The Conservatives have unveiled the terms under which a respected former Supreme Court justice will examine whether the government should continue to prevent public scrutiny of documents related to the handling of Afghan detainees.

PM, justice minister contradict each other on Afghan documents, say Liberals
The Hill Times (Ottawa), March 15, 2010
Summary: Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson have contradicted each other over the extent of secret federal information a former Supreme Court judge will review in the controversy over detainee transfers by Canadian troops in Afghanistan, the opposition says.

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N.S. MLA Expenses Scandal Hits Liberals as “Popular” MLA Resigns

Liberal MLA Wilson quits; leader doesn’t know why
The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax), March 12, 2010
Summary: Nova Scotia’s Liberal leader says he cannot explain why member Dave Wilson has resigned from politics. Wilson announced his departure Friday, saying he could no longer carry out his work as a politician.

MLA Wilson Resigns
The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax), March 13, 2010
Summary: A popular provincial Liberal abruptly resigned his Nova Scotia seat Friday under somewhat mysterious circumstances, saying only that he could no longer fulfil his duties and responsibilities in the legislature.

Wilson resignation brings McNeil firmly into expense mess
The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax), March 13, 2010
Summary: Liberal leader Stephen McNeil gets a turn on the whipping post after all. While Premier Darrell Dexter and interim Tory leader Karen Casey have both taken a beating over the MLA expenses scandal, McNeil has been relatively unscathed by the rabid public anger over the issue, which has dominated headlines for weeks. The sudden resignation of Glace Bay Liberal MLA Dave Wilson has changed all that. (Column)

McNeil Takes a Hit
The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax), March 13, 2010
Summary: Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil, who was left holding an empty bag at a news conference yesterday, might have mitigated his embarrassment if he had acted more decisively. He should have sidelined Mr. Wilson the minute he clammed up and lawyered up — in late February. (Editorial)

Grits Mum on Wilson
The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax), March 14, 2010
Summary: As shock over Liberal MLA Dave Wilson’s abrupt resignation begins to subside in Glace Bay, political eyes are turning toward the suddenly vacant seat.

Scandal obscures Dexter’s ‘move on’ message
The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax), March 15, 2010
Summary: People say politicians are insincere, but lately Premier Darrell Dexter has been speaking with the voice of conviction. You can see it when he talks about the MLA expense scandal. You can tell he’s sincere. He sincerely wants us to get over it. (Column)

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Abuse of Science Grants Highlights Accountability Problems in Academia

Star scientist hit with ‘indefinite’ ban on grant money
The Star (Toronto), March 13, 2010
Summary: Canada’s largest research-funding organization has slapped an extraordinary ban on a star scientist who is accused of “plagiarism” and spending up to $150,000 in government grant money on custom car parts, televisions, home entertainment systems and other equipment “inconsistent” with his research proposals.

Privacy rules halted investigation of rogue scientists
Calgary Herald, March 14, 2010
The federal government has been pushing Canada’s largest research council to release the names of scientists who fudge research results, plagiarize reports or misspend grant money, according to federal documents obtained by Canwest News Service.

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Former Rights and Democracy Member Speaks Out

Why I resigned from Rights & Democracy
Ottawa Citizen, March 8, 2010
Summary: Sima Samar, former board member at Rights and Democracy, explains her decision to resign in January 2010. She is head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, served as vice-president and minister of women’s affairs in the Afghan government, and was a nominee for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Droits et démocratie: une motion adoptée à Québec
La Presse, March 12, 2010
Summary: L’Assemblée nationale a adopté hier une motion d’appui au centre Droits et Démocratie, déchiré par une grave crise depuis le début de l’année.

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The Link between Information Management and Information Access

When federal information management practices interfere with public access: need an effective watchdog
The Hill Times (Ottawa), March 15, 2010
Summary: Ottawa needs a Parliamentary watchdog to monitor and change Ottawa’s increasingly troublesome information management practices. That’s because those in charge of information management at the Library and Archives and Treasury Board hardly fit the bill as the needed information management champions.

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Quebec Construction Union Opposes Corruption Inquiry

Construction union opposes corruption inquiry
The Gazette (Montreal), March 15, 2010
Summary: The province’s largest construction union is against the idea of a public inquiry into allegations of corruption and collusion in the industry. Richard Goyette, president of the Quebec Federation of Labour’s construction wing, said such inquiries are “the games of a clown” and “bufoonery” and said they don’t get to the truth of the matter at hand.

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by Ian Bron on March 15, 2010
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Media Update for March 11, 2010

News Summary and Comment:

In an interesting development, the Liberals have been drawn into the Afghan detainee controversy — as a guilty party, that is. It appears that a retired Foreign Affairs diplomat tried to warn Paul Martin‘s government of the very same concerns about torture that Richard Colvin raised in 2006 and 2007. She was met with the same indifference.

This should surprise nobody, because the core players — the bureaucrats running Foreign Affairs — would have been the same. If the Liberals were smart about this, they would embrace this revelation and say that it provides one more compelling reason for the public inquiry they’ve been calling for. They could sell it as coming clean, proof that they’ve reformed their errant ways since the Sponsorship Scandal. It would serve as an excellent contrast to the government’s resistance, too. But will they do this? My bets are on no.

Meanwhile, the CSIS is working on becoming the first-ever candidate for my yet-to-be implemented Memory Hole Award. The issue: the RCMP file on Tommy Douglas, father of Canada’s single payer universal health care. When presented with a hypothetical situation comparing files on Tommy Douglas to hypothetical files on Louis Riel, it seems that the government lawyer, Gregory Tzemenakis, took offense. He felt it was “unfair” to compare the two. The access officer responsible for the file argued Douglas file was only “very old” while any Riel file would be “very, very old.” Hilarious.

Tzemenakis, by the way, is the same lawyer who defended the government in my case, and was caught lying by the justices at least twice — one, on the nature of my whistleblowing report, and two, about my avenues of recourse. I’m sure he goes home every night, kisses his wife and kids, and settles into a comfortable, guilt-free dinner, satisfied with his defence of Canadian democracy.

The Department of Public Works and Government Services is back in hot water, it seems. This time it’s over outrageous building maintenance fees that went unchallenged by department officials. How outrageous? Try almost $2000 for two plants and a $1000 doorbell, amongst other things. One has to wonder whether it was simple incompetence or if envelopes of cash were involved in that little oversight. The Minister, who is shocked — shocked, I say — has promised an audit.

Finally, a more humorous note, the Legislature of Nova Scotia has been awarded the tongue-in-cheek Teddy Award for “Outrageous Nova Scotia MLA Expenses” by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. A well deserved “honour”, indeed.

Have a good weekend.

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Afghan Detainee Controversy Ensnares Liberals

CSIS Continues Fight to Keep Tommy Douglas Files from Public

N.S. MLAs Earn Teddy Award from Canadian Taxpayers Federation for Outrageous Expenses

Public Works to Audit Maintenance Contract after Over-billing Exposed

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Afghan Detainee Controversy Ensnares Liberals

PM defends spy agency’s Afghan role
CBC News, March 8, 2010
Summary: Prime Minister Stephen Harper has defended the role of Canada’s spy service in the questioning of Afghan prisoners, saying the agency respects its “international obligations at all times.”

Détenus afghans: l’opposition exige une enquête publique
La Presse, March 8, 2010
Summary: Les révélations selon lesquelles des agents du Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité (SCRS) ont joué un rôle crucial dans les interrogatoires de prisonniers talibans justifient la tenue d’une enquête publique sur le traitement réservé aux détenus afghans capturés par les troupes canadiennes, estiment les partis de l’opposition.

Tories focused on message as detainee issue grew
CBC News, March 10, 2010
Summary: The Conservative government was focused on communications as it tried to deal with growing questions about the treatment of Afghan detainees in 2007.

Afghan detainee torture risk raised in 2005
CBC News, March 10, 2010
Summary: A Canadian diplomat with extensive experience in Afghanistan says she raised the possibility that detainees transferred from Canadian to Afghan custody were at risk of torture back in 2005, but her concerns were ignored.

Foreign Affairs officials summoned as Afghan detainee probe nears public phase
Winnipeg Free Press, March 10, 2010
Summary: Foreign Affairs officials have been called to testify before a probe into Canada’s transfer of Afghan detainees — despite a court ruling that limited the inquiry’s ability to delve beyond military ranks.

Afghan detainee impasse: Iacobucci could help
The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax), March 10, 2010
Summary: Let’s be clear. The Conservatives have behaved abominably on this file, stonewalling, stalling and smearing public servants who, after all, were only doing their duty by testifying truthfully about what they knew about the possible torture of Afghan detainees handed to local officials by Canadian forces. Justice Iacobucci’s appointment may be another delaying tactic, but we suspect it will yield some worthwhile answers. (Editorial)

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CSIS Continues Fight to Keep Tommy Douglas Files from Public

Tommy Douglas file not old enough for release: CSIS
The Star (Toronto), March 5, 2010
Summary: If Louis Riel had been hanged in 1885 because of an informer among his Metis rebels, Canada’s spy agency might still be blocking release of that history-changing revelation 125 years later. That hypothetical scenario was put to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service last week as part of a legal battle over the government’s refusal to fully disclose decades-old intelligence gathered on socialist icon Tommy Douglas. The agency couldn’t say for certain whether it would release the identity of Riel’s hypothetical betrayer or withhold the information on the basis of national security.

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Public Works to Audit Maintenance Contract after Over-billing Exposed

Minister orders review of ‘unacceptable’ invoices
The Gazette (Montreal), March 10, 2010
Summary: The federal government promises to audit and review a contract with a Montreal-based firm that manages government office buildings after learning that federal taxpayers paid $2,000 to buy two plants and more than $18,000 to clean the offices of a minister and a top bureaucrat over a six-month period.

Public Works paid $1,000 for a doorbell
The Star (Toronto), March 11, 2010
Summary: Red-faced public works officials are scrambling for explanations after revelations they paid $1,948 for two plants and $1,000 for a doorbell for federal government offices.

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N.S. MLAs Earn Teddy Award from Canadian Taxpayers Federation for Outrageous Expenses

MLAs waste-deep in honour
The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax), March 11, 2010
Summary: Nova Scotia MLAs earned national recognition in Ottawa on Wednesday, but not the kind they want. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation gave a Teddy award for government waste to “Outrageous Nova Scotia MLA Expenses.”

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by Ian Bron on March 11, 2010
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Media Update for March 8, 2010

News Summary and Comment:

The lead story today is the re-warming of the Afghan detainee controversy. As the new Parliamentary Committee meetings approach, the government and opposition are facing off over the issue of unreleased documents. The government has hired former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Frank Iacobucci to review whether there would be “injurious” effects if some Afghan detainee documents were made public. The opposition says that he shouldn’t be used to do an end run around Parliamentary supremacy, and that instead he should head a full inquiry.

Meanwhile, Amir Attaran, an accountability activist and law professor at the University of Ottawa, says that he has uncensored versions of government documents released last year and believes that they show that Canadian government officials wanted some detainees to be tortured so they could gather intelligence. This was followed by another story which quotes unnamed government sources corroborating what Attaran is saying. If he’s right, it would certainly explain why the government doesn’t want the documents out in the open.

In other news, corruption charges have been laid against a former B.C. deputy minister of health. Apparently he became, shall we say, too involved in the contract award process for the province’s e-health initiative and benefitted in the process. Besides the lessons in oversight and the need for more whistleblower protections, this story reinforces my belief that government has never met an IT project it couldn’t mismanage. Almost every province – and the federal government – is knee deep in an e-health project, and I’ll bet every one of them has problems.

In a smaller story, it appears that the Parliamentary Budget Officer may get some financial stability this year as appropriate funding is being requested for his office. This was not the case last year, when the PBO was starved for cash. This, in turn, sparked a political controversy over the PBO’s role and place in the world. There was much chest-thumping, but, in the end, the PBO seems to have won out. This would be a victory for Canadians as his record of economic prediction has been much better than that of the Department of Finance.

Finally, someone forwarded an interesting New York Times piece to me. It describes “human-flesh search engines” in China, which are defined in the article as “a form of online vigilante justice in which Internet users hunt down and punish people who have attracted their wrath.” They can be used to out wrongdoers, but also, unsurprisingly, for the purposes of evil.

See you Thursday.

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Afghan Detainee Controversy Heats Up Again; New Allegations Made

Corruption Charges Laid in B.C. E-health Scandal

Parliamentary Budget Officer Finally Gets Some Budget Stability

Online Whistleblowing and Vigilantism in China

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Afghan Detainee Controversy Heats Up Again; New Allegations Made

Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer
CBC News, March 5, 2010
Summary: Federal government documents on Afghan detainees suggest that Canadian officials intended some prisoners to be tortured in order to gather intelligence, according to a legal expert.

Tories accused of contempt for detainees stance
Calgary Herald, March 5, 2010
Summary: The Harper government fuelled the battle over Afghan detainees on Friday by serving notice that it has hired a former Supreme Court judge to screen secret documents to decide whether they can be released to MPs.

Canadian spies interrogated Afghan prisoners, insiders reveal
The Globe and Mail, March 7, 2010
Summary: Officers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service have played a crucial and long-standing role as interrogators of a vast swath of captured Taliban fighters, The Canadian Press has learned.

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Corruption Charges Laid in B.C. E-health Scandal

Corruption charges laid against three linked to e-health project
The Globe and Mail, March 5, 2010
Summary: The launch of British Columbia’s $259-million e-health project has resulted in criminal corruption charges against three people connected to the province’s drive to adopt electronic health records. A total of 16 counts, including influence peddling, breach of trust and fraud, were filed yesterday against a former assistant deputy minister of health, Ronald John Danderfer, as well as consultant Dr. Jonathan Alan Burns and former health authority manager James Roy Taylor.

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Parliamentary Budget Officer Finally Gets Some Budget Stability

Parliament’s budget boosted to $583,567,000 this year
The Hill Times (Ottawa), March 8, 2010
Summary: After a dramatic year of struggling with the House and Senate Speakers and the Parliamentary Librarian, Canada’s Parliamentary budget officer will receive the full planned $2.8-million budget he was promised, according to the 2010-2011 main estimates.

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Online Whistleblowing and Vigilantism in China

China’s Cyberposse
The New York Times, March 2, 2010
Summary: A story on “human-flesh search engines” in China, which are defined in the article as “a form of online vigilante justice in which Internet users hunt down and punish people who have attracted their wrath.” They can be used to out wrongdoers, but also, unsurprisingly, for the purposes of evil.

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by Ian Bron on March 8, 2010
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