PUBLICATION: | The Ottawa Citizen |
DATE: | 2002.05.22 |
EDITION: | Final |
SECTION: | News |
PAGE: | A1 / Front |
BYLINE: | Kathryn May |
SOURCE: | The Ottawa Citizen |
Liberals approve contract probe: Disgraced minister Alfonso Gagliano likely to be called as a witness
The Liberals gave their blessing to a motion yesterday calling for a parliamentary committee investigation into the controversial sponsorship contracts that continue to dog the government.
The Commons public accounts committee voted unanimously to hold hearings into Auditor General Sheila Fraser's damning report into government contracts awarded to Montreal-based Groupaction. The committee's steering committee meets this week to decide on a witness lineup, which could include former Public Works minister Alfonso Gag-liano, now the Canadian ambassador to Denmark.
The committee's opposition MPs were braced for the Liberals to reject the motion and turned out in full force to try to push it through. The Liberals, however, agreed to the proposal with no fuss, but kicked up resistance when it came to publicly discussing who should be called as witnesses. That was referred to the steering committee.
NDP MP Pat Martin, who introduced the motion, said he was "heartened" by the Liberals' support.
Mr. Martin said it showed a recognition of the "real crisis in confidence in public spending" Canada is facing.
Mr. Martin said the hearings could be the only way to determine if
bureaucrats at Public Works and Government Services, the government's contracting arm, were pressured or faced political interference in the awarding of contracts.
"The only question we need answered is whether there was political interference and neither the auditor general nor the RCMP can answer that," said Mr. Martin.
"We need to know: Did the current minister or some former minister or anybody in their office direct senior public servants to break all the rules? That's political interference and that's what we need to learn about here."
Ms. Fraser's report called for an RCMP investigation into the awarding of three contracts to Groupaction, saying two senior bureaucrats, including a former chief of staff for Mr. Gagliano, had shown an "appalling disregard" for the law in their handling of the contracts.
Ms. Fraser did not have the scope to comment beyond the conduct of public servants.
Ms. Fraser did not blame Mr. Gagliano directly for any of the problems she found.
Opposition members of the committee say they expect the committee's unanimity for the hearings won't hold once it comes to deciding on the witness list.
A witness list proposed by Bloc Quebecois MP Odina Desrochers included: Ms. Fraser; Jean Brault, president of Groupaction; Roger Desjeans, vice-president of marketing for Groupaction; Pierre Tremblay, Mr. Gagliano's former chief of staff; and Charles Guite, the now-retired head of the branch of Public Works that oversaw the sponsorship program.
Canadian Alliance MP John Williams, who chairs the committee, said he will seek Ms. Fraser's advice on who should be called.
Opposition MPs say Mr. Gagliano should be called to testify, especially if the bureaucrats reveal his knowledge or influence in directing the contracts to Liberal-friendly firms. The opposition has argued Mr. Gagliano -- as the Chretien government's political minister for Quebec at the time -- would have known about the contracts because they related to the government's campaign to fight separatism in that province.
"If the senior officials before committee tell us there was political interference, then I think it is mandatory the ministers against whom those accusations is made be asked to come before the committee because this strikes to the very heart of democracy in Canada. We need to have a full answer from those at the very top," said Mr. Williams.
The committee can summon witnesses, but doesn't have the power of a public inquiry, which can subpoena witnesses. The six-member steering committee usually reaches its decisions by consensus. In the case of a deadlock, it seeks a decision from the full committee.
The committee is running out of time for its hearings, but hopes to schedule one or two hearings before breaking for the summer. Mr. Martin said he hoped the committee would extend the hearings if necessary.
"The motion was to have one or two or more meetings but, frankly, I think the more we peel the layers of this onion, the more it stinks and the more meetings we are going to have to have," said Mr. Martin.
The committee's mandate is to oversee public spending, which means all auditor general reports are routinely referred to the committee
