Inside Politics

Auditor General to Ethics Committee: Ms. Fraser Regrets ...

by Kady O'Malley Posted: November 17, 2009 12:23 PM Last Updated: November 17, 2009 1:25 PM
As those of you who slogged through this morning's Ethics meeting are already aware, after nearly a months' worth of what was, frankly, not all that patient waiting, Conservative backbencher Dean del Mastro was more than ready to savour his moment in the spotlight, as he finally got the chance to bring forward his motion to ask Auditor General Sheila Fraser to reopen the sponsorship file.  

Alas, it was not to be. 

Before del Mastro could launch into what was surely a barnstormer of an opening argument, the chair informed the committee that he had, in fact, been in touch with Fraser herself to determine whether she would be open to such a request, and proceeded to read her response into the record: 

Dear Mr. Szabo, 

Thank you for your letter dated 9 November 2009, informing me of the motion before the Committee to request that my Office "conduct a full audit of the sponsorship program to determine which federal Liberal riding associations received stolen funds, and to clarify for Canadians who received the missing $43 million dollars." 

I wish to inform the Committee that we do not have the authority to undertake this audit as our mandate is limited to federal departments and agencies. 

Further, my Office has already conducted a full audit of the sponsorship program, the government of the day commissioned a public inquiry and the RCMP investigated the matter. 

I hope this information is helpful to the Committee. 

Yours sincerely, 

{signed]

Sheila Fraser, FCA

Not exactly the enthusiastic -- or even luke-warm -- reception that del Mastro was doubtless hoping for, but to give him credit, he appeared to be prepared to plow onwards with his motion, even in the face of such polite but firm uninterest from the intended target of his proposed request. 

Luckily for all concerned, the chair soon put him out of his misery, and ruled the motion itself out of order, what with it not even coming close to falling under the existing committee mandate. Rallying to the side of their rebuffed colleague, del Mastro's caucus colleagues supported his attempt to overturn his decision, but against a united opposition, it was a futile gesture. 

And with that, the latest (but almost certainly not the last) attempt by the Conservatives to resurrect the sponsorship scandal wound up on the committee equivalent of the cutting room floor. 

Better luck next time, guys -- only you might want to leave the poor auditor general -- and any other independent officer of parliament you may even now be eying speculatively --  out of any future efforts. Yes, that goes for the opposition too: Independent officers of parliament were not created purely to provide fodder for partisan press releases. They have plenty of real work to do, so for goodness sakes, let them do it.  


Tags: blackberry jungle, dean del mastro, ethics committee bonus round, sheila fraser, so this is how the world ends - not with a bang but a ruling of the chair