Adrian Wyld/CP
Maclean’s is your home for the daily political theatre that is question period. If you’ve never watched, check out our primer. Today, QP runs from 2:15 p.m. until just past 3. We livestream and liveblog all the action.
Where were we?
So many things can guarantee a cabinet minister a long day. Question period is a harvesting ground for arguments about failed programs (e.g. “the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry”) and poor proposals (e.g. “the Unfair Elections Act”) and dumb statements (e.g. MP John Williamson’s latest adventure) that force cabinet ministers into several stages of damage control that may include denials, deflections, counterattacks or apologies, sometimes in no particular order. Every day is a long day for somebody, because government is enormous and something’s always going wrong.
Sometimes, ministers aren’t forced to account for a program or proposal or statement with which the opposition has major beef. Sometimes, they’re caught breaking a rule and the opposition kindly asks them to own up to the misbehaviour. Peter Penashue and Bev Oda, the one-time ministers of intergovernmental affairs and international cooperation, respectively, are the Harper-era poster-people for poor judgment. The opposition hounded them until they resigned.
Today, Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson dropped a report probably of some interest to New Democrats and Liberals: Public Works Minister Diane Finley breached federal conflict-of-interest rules when, as human resources minister in 2011, she personally intervened to grant funding to a community centre in Markham, Ont. Dawson concluded that Finley gave the Markham Centre for Skills and Independence preferential treatment, a violation of the Conflict of Interest Act.
I found that Ms. Finley’s decision to fund the Markham project was improper within the meaning of section 4 of the Act and that she reasonably should have known that, in making the decision, she would be in a conflict of interest under subsection 6(1). I therefore concluded that Ms. Finley contravened subsection 6(1) of the Act.
The ethics commissioner also reiterated every minister’s responsibilities vis-a-vis the public purse.
The public’s confidence in the handling of public funds and the fairness of government transfer payment programs is undermined when ministers do not maintain the government’s stated commitment to managing them with integrity, transparency and accountability. Ministers are in a position of power and have a responsibility to ensure that this power is exercised fairly and in a way that is open to all Canadians.
The Prime Minister’s Office says Finley acted in good faith when she approved the project. Don’t be surprised if the people across the way are skeptical.
The stream
The blog
The post QP Live: Diane Finley’s long day appeared first on Macleans.ca.