PMO says it won't co-operate as ethics czar looks into Emerson defection   Friday, March 03, 2006  OTTAWA (CP) - There's a possibility Stephen Harper's first act as prime minister may have breached the parliamentary ethical code for MPs, the federal ethics commissioner indicated Friday.  But Bernard Shapiro's decision to launch a "preliminary inquiry" into Harper's controversial appointment of former Liberal David Emerson to the Conservative cabinet met with a furious rebuttal from the Prime Minister's Office.  "The prime minister is loath to co-operate with an individual whose decision-making ability has been questioned and who has been found in contempt of the House," Harper's communications director, Sandra Buckler, said late Friday.  In a release, the PMO added, "this Liberal appointee's actions have strengthened the prime minister's resolve to create a truly non-partisan ethics commissioner, who is accountable to Parliament."  A major parliamentary donnybrook appears in the works.  Shapiro, who did not speak to reporters Friday, appears to be basing his investigation on elements of the parliamentary conflict-of-interest code that prohibit inducing an MP to change his or her vote for personal benefit.  "After careful consideration, and pursuant to . . . the members code, I have decided to combine a preliminary inquiry of the prime minister . . . with a preliminary inquiry on my own initiative of Mr. Emerson," Shapiro wrote in an open letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons.  "My intention is to issue one report."  The announcement comes almost a month after Harper shocked the political establishment by plucking Emerson, the former Liberal industry minister, from the opposition front bench and placing the Vancouver MP in his first Conservative cabinet.  The move came the same day Harper was sworn into office and just two weeks after Emerson won his Vancouver-Kingsway seat running as a Liberal.  The Tories are crying foul, noting that Shapiro turned down their request for an investigation into Liberal Tony Valeri's landholdings during the election campaign on the grounds the commissioner couldn't act between sittings of Parliament.  Since the Commons won't resume sitting until April 3, Harper's office argues Shapiro is applying a double standard.  It's not the first time Shapiro has been harshly criticized.  Former NDP MP Ed Broadbent accused the commissioner of having "extraordinarily serious credibility problems" after a series of questionable reports last year.

 

The Hypocritical, incompetent Shapiro should have already rightfully so even  been fired, along with his bad Liberals a long time ago as well

 

Like I had wrote before too...

 

"Harper said the players behind the sponsorship program should be sitting in jail, and he promised that a Conservative government would appoint a special prosecutor to deal with any federal crimes.  Harper said under his leadership, an arm's length, independent office of the Director of Public Prosecutions will be put in place to "take over responsibility for all federal criminal prosecutions." Under such a system, said Harper, politicians will no longer be responsible for holding other politicians accountable. Harper said he would only appoint that official after consulting opposition parties. "There will be a new code on Parliament Hill: bend the rules, you will be punished. Break the law, you will be charged. Abuse the public trust, you will go to prison," he said. "

 

- Does that include all the bad civil and the bad  public servants now too? wrongfully very few of them are ever found guilty of any wrong doings and are not punished now as well.

 

 - That reminds me we have a clearly still useless ethics commissioner B Shapiro appointed by the pretentious and useless also Liberal PM Paul Partin has anyone rightfully  fired him yet?

 

"In regard to the now ex PM Paul Martin 's poor  appointees.. Besides rightfully getting rid of A Rock and Frank McKenna  please do rightfully as soon as possible get rid of, fire the clearly useless ethics czar, the Federal ethics commission Bernard Shapiro for I too cannot find any evidence that he does a good job, and I am quite dismayed always by the political timing of his ethics findings.  The federal ethics commission has found no evidence that Liberal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh offered "specific rewards" for a Surrey Conservative MP's support to prop up the government in a key vote last May.  Obviously he cannot even read the former Conservative MP Garment Growl taped transcripts effectively."

 

 "OTTAWA (CP) - MPs on the Commons public accounts committee say they want to know whether key witnesses who testified before them about the federal sponsorship scandal were telling the truth.  In a rare show of unanimity, Liberals joined opposition members to commission a study comparing what was said to them with what was said to a public inquiry headed by Justice John Gomery. If discrepancies are found, anybody accused of lying to the MPs could be held in contempt of Parliament or even face criminal charges of perjury".. and we all tend to know what big liars now many of them were.. for the Liberals testifying had even contradicted each other..

 

Now what about also fully prosecuting also the lawyers who lie in the courts and rightfully too.. and all civil and public servants, politicians who lie on their resumes, expense accounts, and commit tax evasions.. Dingbat, Ouellette..  and how many more grants, tax payers money too now are poorly accounted for, and is the useless Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro still mostly useless? and the RCMP still as well????  unacceptable!! "

The Liberals should clearly avoid all appearnces of evil such as this -"Richard Neville: The chief financial officer at the Royal Canadian Mint is the only individual who had oversight of Dingwall's expenses there. At this point, there are questions about judgment - such as Dingwall expensing a $1.29 pack of gum - but not malfeasance. Neville was the former assistant deputy minister at Public Works under Dingwall when the ill-starred sponsorship program was begun in the mid-1990s. Justice John Gomery's inquiry into the $250-million scandal heard testimony that Chuck Guite, the civil servant who ran the program and faces fraud charges, reported directly to Neville.  Gloria McArter: Dingwall's executive assistant at the Mint, also goes back with Dingwall to his time as Public Works minister, including a spell with Wallding International Inc., Dingwall's lobby firm that earned the forbidden commission from Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., through the federal Technology Partnerships Canada fund. McArter's name appears beside many of the office expenses that have caused Dingwall such problems at the Mint. Leigh-Anne Dingwall: The middle of Dingwall's three children, is a public servant working out of John McCallum's ministerial office at Natural Resources Canada. She is also a co-owner in Wallding International Inc. "Diane Champagne-Paul: Currently a senior adviser on MPs in the office of federal ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro, she was the registrar of lobbyists when Dingwall was being errantly paid a commission by Bioniche Life Sciences Inc.  Dingwall's lobbyist registration stated openly he was working on a contingency fee basis - which is expressly against the rules - Champagne-Paul should have noticed the conflict. "The woman who was watching over Dingwall is now watching over MPs," said Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch "

A federal civil servant got  clearly a conflict of interest, unacceptable consulting fees for years advising the other Liberals how to cheat lie, steal??"

"MP Brian Pallister he's the critic for National Revenue, Canada Post and the Royal Canadian Mint he wrote to Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro requesting an investigation into an untendered contract by the Mint to Wendy's International for the exclusive distribution rights of the poppy coin through Tim Hortons outlets to coincide with the Remembrance Day period.   In his letter, Mr. Pallister writes that the awarding of the contract "was a violation of the Conflict of Interest and Post Employment code for Public Office Holders." Mr. Pallister said he wants Mr. Shapiro to investigate whether Wendy's shares were purchased in advance of the contract announcement which could have benefited those in possession of the information. " http://www.hilltimes.com/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2005/october/3/pallister/&c=1 

 

"The clearly bad Jewish ethics czar Bernard Shapiro appointed by the Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin himself  has supposedly broken the ethics rules, parliament's code of conduct  himself as a house committee has stated... the ethics commissioner had failed to keep his investigation under warps, he played dirty politics and leaks his views to the news media, prejudicing the fairness of the investigation against the opposition party Calgary MP Deepak Obrhai.. and you think the PM would have been a better judge of character now as well.. as we can see by his now often poor selections...dingbats. Tell me who  your friends are and I will tell you what KIND OF PERSON YOU ARE." http://groups.msn.com/CanadaToday2/expenseaccounts.msnw

 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is rightfully preparing to dump the ethics commissioner and is actively recruiting replacement candidates, CTV News has learned. Former NDP Leader Ed Broadbent was among the government's top choices. "He's actually a Liberal appointee who has a certain pattern of attacking Conservative MPs. Harper's communications director Sandra Buckler said  We find it very troubling which is why we think we should have a non-partisan ethics commissioner who reports to Parliament,"  A Tory MP  calling for the federal ethics watchdog Bernard Shapiro's head . MP John Williams (Edmonton-St. Albert), former head of the House of Commons public accounts committee, said Shapiro should be fired. "He has to go," Williams said. "How do we get rid of the guy?" Shapiro was openly derided by the Tories last year, when they were in opposition, as a "toothless, anemic chihuahua" and a "wet noodle." The Tories have complained that Shapiro turned down their request to investigate Liberal Tony Valeri's landholdings during the election campaign.  Last year, a Commons committee declared Shapiro in contempt of Parliament for making what the committee called inappropriate public comments in connection with an investigation of bribery allegations against Obhrai. Obhrai has repeatedly said the allegations are false and based on a family dispute. Sandra Buckler, the PMO spokesperson, wrote in an email last week: "The Prime Minister is loath to co-operate with an individual whose decision-making ability has been questioned and who has been found in contempt of the House."  The PMO also accused Shapiro, a Liberal appointee, of bias. Shapiro, a former university administrator and senior public servant at Queen's Park, was named Parliament's first independent ethics watchdog in May 2004. He will serve for five years unless "removed for cause" by cabinet in response to a resolution passed by MPs.   And what we have to put up with fools like this for 5 years. never, Unacceptable why wait for spring do it now fire Shapiro

PS "I suggest we start a petition to be signed by all Canadians who value integrity, calling for Emerson's resignation and a court action by his constituents for "breach of contract." Toronto Star   It is ludicrous, unfair, unjust  to even try to remove this one person from a political  office alone now. To be fair, uniform in application, a Recall procedure has to be made for all, note all of the elected persons at the federal, provincial and municipal levels in all of Canada. If the local citizens sign a petition that is 5 percent of the last electoral votes and they are demanding an new election next one has to be held within 3 months, for an example or something like that.