I have been watching this hatchet job the opposition is trying to perform on Bev Oda, and I've seen this movie this before. Back when the Toronto Star published their "busty hookers" story, the Libs responded viciously in the House of Commons with Marlene Jennings even going so far as to call Helena Guergis a drug trafficker. They demanded her resignation, the PM removed her from caucus, and when the police cleared her name the Liberals were incensed that she had been removed from caucus. I'm pretty sure that Marlene Jennings never apologized for her statements in Question Period.
Now here we are and Bev Oda is the victim of the same twisted Blitzkrieg. You had an inflated over reaction by the opposition before we learned all the facts in this case, and the more we found out, the less egregious the alleged "offense" became. She didn't personally forge any documents as alleged because she wasn't in the country when it happened. She simply ordered that the funding be denied, which is within her discretion as minister, and the staffer neglected to initial and date "not". There was no crime here committed by the minister, and a clerical error does not mean she was trying to misrepresent the bureaucrats who made the recommendation.
In her testimony before committee, she never denied that it was her decision to deny the funding. She was asked by a member of the opposition who actually wrote "not" and she said that she did not immediately know the answer to that question. Isn't it possible that she didn't know in that moment, and had to go back to her office to look it up? How many documents has Bev Oda signed (or had signed on her behalf by electric pen) since taking this office two years ago? 1000? If you are sitting in a witness box, you might not immediately recall every detail of every single decision that you've made, especially when there have been hundreds, even thousands of them.
At no point did she attempt to imply that CIDA was the one who did "not" want to fund Kairos. The problem is that the letter itself which was written without her permission would have functioned basically as a cheque to get the money. The government did not support this initiative. She'd have been better off to just stick in the paper shredder, which also would have been her right as minister.
My take is that this is basically a process issue, and thus won't have much traction. Voters care a lot more about the final policy, not HOW it was arrived at.
ReplyDeleteEven if you concede that she was lying (which I don't), I don't see that as much of a big deal either. I mean come on, we all know the joke about: How do you know a politician is lying ? His lips are moving. Lying comes a distant second to stealing money, when it comes to sins by politicians.
As far as I'm concerned, this is a judgement call by Harper on how to proceed. I'll trust his political instincts, after weighing all the facts and considerations. He is probably cutting her slack over a procedural screw-up.
Let the usual suspects bleat away. They are desperately seeking a victory, ANY victory, over their hated bully Harper, who now holds almost all the cards in the political game. It obviously sucks to be a Lib or Dipper, cowering in fear that Flaherty doesn't make the budget extremely hard to swallow.
Calgary Junkie
Our daily paper is full of Liberal media reports on this bogus story.So is NNW(nothing new there) Why doesn't the staffer who wrote the "NOT" come forward? Can't believe how the media are going for the juggler....showing that pic of the minister smoking with her dark sun glasses(Medical reason)....reminds me of the Liberano$ picture. Even going so far as to show the seating arrangements in the HOC????Hide and seek??
ReplyDeleteWhat do the Coalition have against "WOMEN"? Lisa Raitte and the "sexy" comment blown sky high....even putting down their hair styles. Helena Guergis comes to mind with this story....smear, smear, step down, etc and once its done, they cry about it and blame the Prime Minister.
This is nothing more then the Coalition running desperate because Canadians are sick of THEM.Here comes the "Scandals" a week phase.The sooner the Govt. gets a majority the better off we will be. This can't go on....its pathetic.
This is exactly what the Liberal MSM opposition is doing!
ReplyDelete'Why doesn't the staffer who wrote the "NOT" come forward?'
ReplyDeleteMinisterial responsibility.
If a staffer came forward, or Minister Oda named the staffer, there would be immediate attacks on Oda and Harper hiding behind a mere employee.
That's what they did over the Raitt tapes, remember... the staffer who left the tapes in the can (for one of her media buddies perhaps) become Iffy's hero, a young 26 year old staffer he said was getting blamed when she got fired.