"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Thursday 14 March 2013

Did anybody read the book?

Excerpts from a Globe and Mail story.on  rigged contracts awarded to friends and associates by the Canada School of Public Service

 "The findings drew the ire of Treasury Board Minister Tony Clement, to whom the school reports. 'We find the conduct described in this report is unacceptable,' Mr. Clement said in a statement. 'The government will be seeking appropriate sanctions against those responsible.'"
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So   Hallellujah .. the public can now  expect that  people responsible for awarding  government contracts to their friends or  associates, will be  charged like the criminals they are.

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"A federal watchdog is blowing the whistle again on a series of cooked contracts at a school that teaches public servants about ethics and values.

Frank Brunetta, the procurement ombudsman, said Tuesday he found more evidence that the Canada School of Public Service rigged its contracts to make sure they went to favoured suppliers"


************88.

When the government's procurement ombudsman says  something is  true , there would appear to be  good and sufficient grounds to believe it to be so.   

It's his job.

We have here an institution known as the Canada School of Public Service  which answers to Mr. Clements, The Honourable Stephen Harper's  Treasury Board Cabinet Minister..

Since it  was investigated by Mr. Brunetta ,we know it  must be  a government operation. Government has the right to investigate only it's own operations.

It's a quaint  idea we borrowed from Sweden when the Honorable Bill Davis was in charge of Ontario's affairs. 

Sweden has a different culture. When they talk about integrity, there are no shades of grey.  

Isn't it interesting that when  the Procurement Ombudsman  finds corruption.....

"His office cannot levy fines or other penalties for bad behaviour, only requiring that an action plan be drawn up"

Obviously he can't file criminal charges either.

We may however take comfort:

 "The findings drew the ire of Treasury Board Minister Tony Clement, to whom the school reports. 

'We find the conduct described in this report is unacceptable,' Mr. Clement said in a statement. 'The government will be seeking appropriate sanctions against those responsible."

It  brings back memories of the Ottawa inquiry into the sponsorship scandals of the Jean Chretien regime.

Some politicians went to jail I think.

The Honourable  Jean Chretien, former Prime Minister  was a witness at the inquiry and got up the nose of the Justice.

Who in turn, in high dudgeon, after it was all over ,wrote a book about the affair 

Never heard it was a runaway best seller. 

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

A School of Public Service that teaches ethics is a wondrous concept. One wonder how many graduates are currently serving on the staff of various towns and cities. Do they get paid more than those who did not attend?

Anonymous said...

Stephan Harper has a book on hockey. That's good & bad. Bad because he didn't even write it by himself. Good that he enlisted Roy McGregor who really knows about hockey.
Still, most people will wait until it is in the libraries. Not buying it for the kid.

Anonymous said...

10:22... I am sure that there are some towns and cities that would embrace someone that came through that school.

Aurora of course is not one of them with the way "some" councillors feel about mandating ethics and conduct.

Anonymous said...

11:57 AM
Are you serious? A school to teach adults ethics?

Anonymous said...

Please, 11:57 AM. Read the material. The school you are touting was found to have rigged bids worth many thousands of dollars on several occasions.

Anonymous said...

Could someone please explain. Conservative MP for Labrador, Peter Penashue, has resigned over accepting 'ineligible donations ' of about $4000 in his campaign. He blames that on an inexperienced volunteer. He plans to run in a by-election to regain his seat. Does that make economic sense to anyone? Won't a by-election cost the province much more?

Anonymous said...

4:20 PM
I'm not up on that but I can recall the Morrisites refusing to have a by-election after they hounded Grace Marsh from office. They claimed it would cost a whopping $5000. Little did we know what they were spending on other garbage at the time. So Councillor Gallo just waltzed into the position. He still claims that he has since been ' re-elected ' which is an enormous whopper.

Anonymous said...

There is an odd item on the Agenda. Odd because I cannot figure out why it is there. It involves building 2 houses on a vacant lot on Kennedy Street West. A previous Council took that to the OMB & lost. Is someone still fighting old expensive battles or has another new home builder or buyer on the street lodged yet another objection?
Is there no collective memory about past OMB cases? Just asking.