As my first official DK4 diary, I thought I would take an opportunity to illustrate a profound difference between Canada and our amazing neighbours to the south.
This is a diary about political scandal, or what passes for it in Canada.
I should warn you, it involves such scandalous items as bureaucrats testifying before a Parliamentary committee, funding decisions, questions asked of the Prime Minister, and most importantly FORMS! Yes, the latest political scandal in the Great White North involves forms. However, it is a real scandal with really profound implications.
Follow me below the fold for details!
In Canada, our system of government holds that the government is based on the confidence of Parliament, and that government is responsible to Parliament. In our system, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet are held to account on a daily basis through Question Period, where other MPs ask them questions. If a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons, it is forced to resign. This system allows for a great deal of accountability for the government, and requires Ministers to account for their decisions.
In order for this system of government to work, MPs are expected to respect the role and privileges of Parliament. A fundamental concept of that system is that the Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers ,and other MPs are expected to tell the truth. Lying to Parliament is considered a profound offense.
In that light, the story of Minister Bev Oda, the Minister of International Development must be told. Minister Oda is responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the government agency responsible for Canada's foreign aid. Late last year, Oda made a decision to cease providing funding to Kairos Canada , a faith based organization made up of several of the largest Christian churches in the country that delivers aid in Africa and other places. Kairos was critical of Israeli policy, which meant they ran afoul of Canada's Conservative government, which has been rather pro-Israel in its policy. That alone is not the scandal. Ministers have the prerogative to make funding decisions for their departments, even if, as in this case, department officials recommend funding the organization.
The scandal came as always, in the cover up, not the initial action. Oda claimed, as controversy broke, that she was merely following the advice of her departmental officials. She testified to this effect before a committee of Parliament looking into the matter. Regrettably, this information was false. Departmental officials had recommended, on a form submitted for Minister Oda's review, that Kairos receive the funding. The Minister hid behind the excuse, when her decision was really based upon political and not departmental (bureaucratic) advice. See this article for full details.
The truly laughable part of hte whole scandal, but perhaps the alarming part as well, is how the decision was rendered. Minister Oda, her staff, or someone inserted the word "NOT" into a sentence reading "that you sign below to indicate that you approve funding for ..." so the sentence read "that you sign below to indicate that you NOT approve funding". This had the effect of implying that officials had recommended the opposite of what they had actually represented, completely falsifying the recommendation and the advice of the department.
Minister Oda later repeated this lie in the House of Commons, in defense of the decision. She did this until she was called on it, as the documents were revealed, and the testimony of her officials forced her to back off. She later issued an apology in the House of Commons, in which she attempted to claim her story had been inconsisten the whole time.
Opposition parties are demanding the Minister resign for misleading Parliament. More interestingly, they are also asking the Speaker of the House of Commons (an MP selected by his peers to be the neutral overseer of the House) to find the Minister in contempt of Parliament, something htat has never happened to a sitting Minister. Editorials in major papers across the country have called for minister Oda to step down, and have called the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's integrity and accountability into question. The story has lead the national news, and threatens to be yet another reason for opposition parties to trigger an election by voting down the government's upcoming Budget.
So, there you have it. A Canadian scandal, a story of forms, of honesty, and of the need for a government to be held accountable.
I hope this didn't bore you too much, and that it gives you a little more insight to your neighbours to the North, and the issues we face.
Updated by Patrick from Toronto at Thu Feb 17, 2011, 10:28:16 PM
Catnip raises a very good point! Kairos was accused of being critical of Israel, something they deny.