Canada's international cooperation minister resigns in disgrace

Introduction, by website editors, July 5, 2012

Canada's minister of international cooperation, Bev Oda, has resigned, effective the end of the month of July. The article below from yesterday's Toronto Star explains the essential details. A letter to the Star editor further below touches on the Haiti side of this story.

One item unreported in the Toronto Star article is the unexplained practice of Minister Oda in retroactively altering the expense records that her ministry is obliged to post online. "Records show that Oda modified the amounts related to expenses on a number of recent trips, but has refused to reveal why those figures were changed." (National Post, July 4)

Minister Oda has been replaced in cabinet by a career policeman with no experience in international relations or cooperation. Julian Fantino was the chief of police for London, Ontario from 1991-98, for York Region from 1998-2000, and for Toronto from 2000 to 2006. He then served as Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police from 2006 to 2010. He was elected as a member of Parliament in a by-election in November 2010 in a Toronto-region district, then re-elected in the May, 2011 general election.

Prior to this latest appointment, Minister Fantino was Associate Minister of National Defense. Among his duties was procurement of equipment for the Canadian Armed Forces. The current government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is embroiled in a scandal over procurement of the F-35 jet fighter aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin. In 2010, the government announced it would proceed with a multi-billion purchase of the aircraft without tender. Subsequent investigations by media as well as the Auditor General of Canada found that the government was deliberately underestimating the true cost of the aircraft and misleading Parliament and the Canadian public.

On March 25, 2011, the House of Commons of Canada voted in its majority to find the minority government of Stephen Harper to be in contempt of Parliament. This was the first such vote in Canadian history and in the history of the 54-country member Commonwealth of Nations (British Commonwealth). The charge of contempt was founded on two events--the withholding of information by Minister of International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda about her ministry's operations, and the withholding of information and misleading of Parliament over the F35 procurement program. The following day, Prime Minister Harper called an election for May 2, 2011. His Conservative Party won a majority government in that election.

Media investigations have uncovered reports of serious flaws with the aircraft design. The government failed to report any of this and claims that the attack aircraft meets all its anticipated requirements. The cost of the proposed procurement of 65 F35 aircraft is pegged as high as $35 billion (including maintenance over its life span).

****************

Scandal-plagued Oda resigns

International co-operation minister quits politics, setting stage for PM’S expected cabinet shuffle

By Joanna Smith and Allan Woods, page one headline, Toronto Star, July 4, 2012

OTTAWA— International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda will leave politics later this month following a series of scandals over her travel expenses and funding decisions that have hampered her credibility despite her long tenure in cabinet.

The departure of the Conservative MP for the Ontario riding of Durham lends more credence to already swirling speculation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is planning to once again shuffle his cabinet this summer. Oda made the announcement on her website Tuesday, revealing she informed Harper two weeks ago she would be resigning both her portfolio and her seat on July 31, several days after she turns 68. One source close to the minister suggested the decision had to do with her readiness for retirement after being the longest-serving minister in charge of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) — a portfolio she has held since 2007 — and not with her political controversies.

The resignation nonetheless puts an end to a tense era at the federal humanitarian agency, according to former officials, with one describing how she ran roughshod over young Conservative aides and bureaucrats. She berated civil servants in meetings in full view of their peers, pressured political staff to delay or obscure the mandatory publication of her ministerial expenses and regularly smoked cigarettes in her office, in violation of provincial laws, according to the official.

The Canadian Press revealed in April that Oda ditched reservations at a five-star hotel in London, England, where a conference on international immunizations was being held last June, in order to stay instead at the posh and more expensive Savoy, getting taxpayers to pick up the tab for the $1,134 price difference for three nights plus a $287 cancellation fee.

While Oda reimbursed taxpayers the extra money — as well as a $16 glass of orange juice from the Savoy — after the story emerged, she never provided an explanation for the change in accommodations. Conservative insiders now say the PMO was well aware of Oda’s penchant for lavish spending, identifying it as an issue in need of careful monitoring.

NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus said Harper should have made her leave sooner. “At no point was there ever an indication the prime minister was going to hold her to account for her outrageous spending and misrepresentation of spending to the Canadian public,” Angus said Tuesday.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation calculated on Tuesday that Oda would start collecting an annual parliamentary pension of $52,183 after her resignation takes effect, which would add up to $701,464 if she reaches the age of 80.

Despite causing repeated political headaches for the government and having to evade uncomfortable questions from reporters for months at a time, Oda endured in Harper’s cabinet and oversaw sweeping changes within her portfolio.

“Things have changed quite dramatically,” said Mark Fried, senior policy for Oxfam Canada. Fried said positive impacts included the stability that came with her five-year reign, her strong support for humanitarian assistance, a greater focus on results and transparency and a move to untie Canadian aid so the government no longer has to spend its development money on food and other items purchased in Canada.

Other major changes included whittling down the list of countries that would receive more generous and intensive Canadian development dollars and pushing out aid groups whose programs were deemed to be at odds with Conservative priorities or ideology.

Harper issued a statement Tuesday praising Oda for leading the 2010 G8 initiative on maternal and child health, for bringing accountability to Canadian aid programs and for planning responses to humanitarian disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti, flooding in Pakistan and famine in East Africa.  “Through Bev’s leadership, Canada has also met, ahead of schedule, its commitment to double aid to Africa. This is a record of which to be proud,” Harper said in the statement.

THE DOLLARS AND SENSE OF A CONTROVERSIAL MINISTER

* In November 2006, Bev Oda cancelled a $250-per-person re-election fundraiser in Toronto after it was revealed that Charlotte Bell, who was vice-president for CanWest MediaWorks, was helping to organize the event. As heritage minister at the time, Oda was in charge of a major review of federal television policy and Bell managed CanWest’s strategy for dealing with that review.

* Oda reimbursed taxpayers more than $2,200 after the Liberals obtained documents showing she had racked up $5,475 being ferried around in a limousine while attending the 2006 Juno Awards in Halifax. The New Democrats later obtained documents showing Oda had spent almost $17,000 on limousines during her time as heritage minister despite only disclosing about half that amount publicly.

* Oda admitted in February 2011 that she had directed an unnamed official to insert the handwritten word “not” in November 2009 in order to reverse a recommendation by public servants to provide $7 million in funding to KAIROS, a faith-based ecumenical aid organization from Toronto. Oda had earlier testified before committee that she did not know who changed the document. The change in tune came after a sharp rebuke from then Commons Speaker Peter Milliken just before the foreign affairs committee voted to find the matter a point of privilege.

* In April, Oda reimbursed taxpayers for the extra money she cost them by upgrading from a $287-a-night five-star hotel to the even fancier Savoy while attending a conference on global immunization in London, England, last year. She also expensed a $16 glass of orange juice from the second hotel.
--Joanna Smith

**************************

Fantino takes over foreign aid

By Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News, July 5, 2012

OTTAWA – Former Ontario Provincial Police chief Julian Fantino was quietly named on Wednesday Canada’s international development minister, taking over the country’s $5-billion foreign aid program from the embattled Bev Oda.

The decision to appoint Fantino was unexpected as he does not appear to boast much international experience, particularly with developing countries. His recent record as associate defence minister has also been spotty. Fantino had been responsible for overseeing the F-35 stealth fighter program and other military procurement projects, but they were largely taken out of his hands after a number of problems and delays in recent months. New Brunswick MP Bernard Valcourt, who had been serving as minister of state for the Atlantic economic development agency, will take over as associate defence minister.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not offer much in the way of an explanation for the appointments, saying only that each man brings strong leadership experience to their respective positions. The small shuffle was made necessary this week when Oda announced she would retire following a furor over lavish spending, including limousine rides and a $665-pernight stay in a posh London hotel where she charged taxpayers for a $16 glass of orange juice.

Fantino’s appointment prompted immediate reactions from international development experts and opposition critics who questioned his credentials. They also accused the Harper government of having a low – or even skewed – view of foreign aid, one that sees it as merely a tool for advancing Canadian interests and not for eliminating poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

Carleton University professor Edward Jackson said the key will be whether Fantino will be open to advice and input from staff at the Canadian International Development Agency. “If he can actually take some of that advice, he could be a competent minister,” Jackson said. “If he only does what the (Prime Minister’s Office) or other political staff tell him to do, this will be a wasted appointment and one that will likely do even more damage to the foreign aid program.”

Fantino takes over following five years of dramatic – and often controversial – changes to Canada’s foreign aid program during Oda’s tenure. Foreign aid has long been an afterthought for successive federal governments, as was noted in a report from then-auditor general Sheila Fraser in November 2009 that highlighted an absence of clear planning and continually shifting priorities. Fraser blamed these problems on a veritable revolving door at the top, particularly in the minister’s office. Oda was the exception. First appointed to head Canada’s foreign aid efforts in August 2007, she is now the longest-serving international development minister this country has had.

Insiders have said she arrived in the portfolio from Heritage Canada with orders from the prime minister to implement a major shakeup of Canadian foreign aid – which is exactly what she has done over the past five years, personal gaffes aside.

Some of those changes were universally applauded. The Harper government’s decision to remove all requirements that Canadian aid money be spent on Canadian goods, products or services was one example. The focus on maternal and child health was another. But many of the most controversial and far-reaching changes were decided on and implemented behind closed doors, outside the realm of public and parliamentary debate. These included shifting aid from poor African nations to middle-income trading partners, overhauling the way the federal government works with non-governmental organizations, and solidifying the link between international assistance and Canadian mining companies, particularly those operating in Latin America.

Others have argued Oda was extremely successful in ensuring development groups and other vested interests would not scuttle long overdue reforms to Canada’s foreign aid program. “She did bring in some really important reforms,” said James Haga of Engineers Without Borders. “There are some things that were undoubtedly moves in the right direction. At the same time, there have been things that really do undermine trust. She’s committed a whole series of gaffes and done things that undermined a sense of transparency and trust.”

The clearest example for many was her dealings with the development group KAIROS, which was cut as a CIDA partner after Oda ordered the word “NOT” to be inserted by hand into a memo, prompting accusations of political interference.

The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development blasted the Harper government’s lack of transparency and arbitrary decision-making on foreign aid in a major report last month. “The new approach to Canadian aid is not yet supported by sufficient or transparent decision-making criteria,” the report said,

*****************************

Letter to Toronto Star editor on Bev Oda resignation (unpublished)

Vancouver BC
July 4, 2012

Hello Toronto Star editor,

It would be unfortunate if the news coverage of Bev Oda's departure from the federal cabinet did not look critically at her most serious failing as Minister of International Cooperation--her responsibility, and that of her government, towards Haiti.

The ongoing housing crisis in Haiti is the subject of a just-launched international lobbying and petition campaign called  'Under Tents.' It aims to pressure Haitian authorities and their international allies to undertake a massive program to meet the acute housing needs of hundreds of thousands of Haitians. Housing is only one of a number of critical human or social rights files in Haiti that are languishing, notwithstanding all the promises two and a half years ago to assist a new Haiti to emerge from the wreckage of the earthquake.

Bev Oda has been a point person for Canada's ongoing failure to break with policies of interference and neo-colonialism in Haiti. A $16 glass of orange juice on the taxpayer tab or  tampering with documents to cover up lavish spending habits are serious indiscretions, sure, but they pale beside the evident failings of Canada and the other big powers in Haiti.

Regards,
Roger Annis
Haiti Solidarity BC