Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

The watchdogs

by Aaron Wherry on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 5:09pm - 54 Comments

The Globe, Canadian Press, Star, and CBC report from the appearances of the former president of the Nuclear Safety Commission, the former chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission and the former chair of the RCMP public complaints commission at a Liberal forum this morning. From the Globe’s account.

More diplomatic was Peter Tinsley, whose term as chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission, was not renewed last year. The commission made news for probing the Afghan detainee controversy, the same hot-button issue that many observers say forced the Tories to prorogue Parliament this winter.

“The perception has become widespread that something is not quite right in the system,” Mr. Tinsley said. Too often, he said, political “horsetrading” and unelected staffers play key roles in hiring and firing watchdogs that serve at the whim of the government they are appointed to criticize. ”The potential for abuse itself does not bode well for good governance,” Mr. Tinsley said.

Tags: Linda Keen, Military Police Complaints Commission, MPCC, Paul Kennedy, Peter Tinsley, RCMP

More by Aaron Wherry

http://intensedebate.com/people/LynnTO LynnTO

"Too often, he said, political “horsetrading” and unelected staffers play key roles in hiring and firing watchdogs that serve at the whim of the government they are appointed to criticize."

And what does that say about how he, himself was appointed?
http://intensedebate.com/people/tedbetts tedbetts

I don't know. Enlighten us.
Anon

Related: Dimitri Soudas lied to the nation just now on Power and Politics; claimed that the Opposition had lost confidence in Linda Keen.

They lie, they lie, they lie…

Dot

Bill C-38 An Act to permit the resumption and continuation of the operation of the National Research Universal Reactor at Chalk River passed as amended (seconded) by Michael Ignatieff

39th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 035

CONTENTS
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Hon. Gary Lunn:
Mr. Chair, it is in fact the contrary. In all of our conversations with AECL, it has expressed nothing but trying to work in a cooperative approach. Everyone has been focused on solutions.

I will state for the record that it is exactly the opposite to what the member is suggesting.

If I may while I have the floor, I would seek unanimous consent to propose an amendment moved by myself, seconded by the member for Etobicoke—Lakeshore, on which I believe the other parties have had consultations. This would provide greater certainty. I move:

For greater certainty, nothing in this act derogates from the authority of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in respect of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, except for the specific licence conditions mentioned in subclause 1(1).
next intervention previous intervention

The Chair:
The committee of the whole has heard the request of the hon. Minister of Natural Resources for unanimous consent to move this amendment and to seek consent for it. Is there unanimous consent?

Some hon. members: Agreed.

The Chair: I declare the amendment carried.

(Amendment agreed to)

The Chair: Shall clause 1, as amended, carry?

Some hon. members: Agreed.

Some hon. members: On division.

The Chair: I declare clause 1 carried.

(Clause 1, as amended, agreed to)

The Chair: Shall the preamble carry?

Some hon. members: Agreed.

Some hon. members: On division.

The Chair: I declare the preamble carried.

[Note: In attendance Linda Keen after giving testimony]

http://intensedebate.com/people/tedbetts tedbetts

Something I haven't seen re-reported today so just to remind folks: Linda Keen was fired at 11:00pm the night before she was to testify at a Parliamentary committee on the nuclear reactors. No longer an employee, she was not able to testify.

Parliament did not "lose confidence" in her for doing her job: it overruled her and said medical isotope production was, on balance, more important than a strict following of back up emergency power safety procedures. Keen had no mandate to do anything but follow the safety protocols of the engineers who designed the plant.

Lord Kitchener's Own

They didn't even really "overrule" her.

Keen's position was that as the country's nuclear safety watchdog she didn't have the authority to come to the conclusion that the continued production of medical isotopes was a higher priority than certain reactor safety regulations and that on balance the one should trump the other. She even said, publicly, on many occasions, that if Parliament wanted to make such a judgment they should do so, but that it was beyond her mandate/power to do so on her own.

To my mind, Parliament didn't so much "overrule" Keen as it "did what she told them they had to do".

http://intensedebate.com/people/tedbetts tedbetts

Also not mentioned is the case of Robert Marleau, outgoing Information Commissioner.

Like the others, he held an important accountability oversight position. He reported a number of times about how the Conservatives were setting records in the number of breaches of the Access to Information Act they had and how slow they responded to legal access requests and how much political materials they unnecessarily redacted.

Not surprisingly, he too was pushed out of his job.

See a pattern?
http://intensedebate.com/people/avr avr

Cronies of party not in power upset that cronies of party in power took their jobs! Film at 11!

Less flippantly, the fact of appearing at a partisan Liberal event to make these allegations pretty much puts the lie to any pretense of professional neutrality or objectivity, and just emphasizes the foolish, sour-grapes nature of the allegations. Guess what, guys: if you had become inconvenient to a future Liberal government, you'd also manage to find yourself mysteriously unemployed, no matter how hard you might grovel today.

Ted

So Bernard Lord, who is scheduled to speak later this week, is now a Liberal shll?

http://intensedebate.com/people/tedbetts tedbetts

Also not much mentioned today was the ongoing war between the Conservatives and their own appointed independent Budget Chief who has questione every single financial statement put out by the government as being mostly hooey, to use a somewhat less than technical term for it.

Result: ongoing fights, failure to deliver information he needs to do his job, and ultimately cutting his budget almost in half.

See a pattern?

Lord Kitchener's Own

Just because the position was created by the Tories, and the officer was appointed by the Tories, doesn't mean he's not a Liberal hack (see: Rights and Democracy).

http://intensedebate.com/people/Style Style

Is there not something odd about an unelected commissioner selected by the PM complaining about the role of unelected staffers hired by the PM? And how does adding another commissioner solve the problem?
http://intensedebate.com/people/LynnTO LynnTO

on the off-chance that your response wasn't sarcastic, I'm implying that if what he said is true, then ministerial and political staffers likely logrolled to put him in office, too.

Which isn't surprising, just a rather odd admission.

Lord Kitchener's Own

Still, as bad as they both are, I'm slightly more concerned about governments inappropriately firing the watchdogs who are supposed to be critically evaluating the government's work, then I am about the government inappropriately hiring them.

Hiring someone because you think they're not going to do a thorough job as a watchdog is, imho, not quite as bad as firing someone because they ARE doing a thorough job as a watchdog.

tobyornottoby

When is the government organized symposium? Or did that get prorogued?
http://intensedebate.com/people/SirJohn_Eh SirJohn_Eh

Oh come on, are they expected to maintain political neutrality after losing their jobs for the reasons that they did? Would you not like a chance to air your grievances and concerns if you lost your job for the sole reason that you were doing your job – even if said job didn't involve something as important as nuclear safety, complaints against RCMP actions, etc.? We should all be glad they took the time to attend/videoconference.
http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

"unelected staffers play key roles in hiring and firing watchdogs"

Tony Blair was criticized for relying on informal 'sofa cabinet' – Blair and a mixture of advisers, experts and consultants would sit around PM's office and make decisions without consulting cabinet or other MPs.

Does Harper using a similar system? What is Tinsley referring to?

And it has been a decent week for conservatives – bureaucrats being held to account for once and then whinging in public about the unfairness of it all, announcement that we will stop funding UNRWA, that government is appointing proper conservatives to quangos and rumours that Cons are going to get a bit serious about getting budget under control.

It is normally thin cruel for cons in Canada but the past 10 days or so has been a breath of fresh air.

http://eugeneforseyliberal.blogspot.com EFL

Whining like Wenger, now losing like him, eh? 5 years & counting, Gooner…

http://intensedebate.com/people/TJCook TJCook

"Guess what, guys: if you had become inconvenient to a future Liberal government, you'd also manage to find yourself mysteriously unemployed…"

Can you back that up or is it just your *partisan* accusation?

BTW, "partisan" isn't a be-all-end-all excuse for dismissing opinions you don't like. Same with "unelected".
http://intensedebate.com/people/TJCook TJCook

Good lord jolyon – put down the kool-aid before it's too late. You're too smart to cough up a post of conbot talking points like this.
http://intensedebate.com/people/TJCook TJCook

I'm not sure such a condition is all that rare… might even be contagious….
Dot

Hon. Gary Lunn (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC)
moved that Bill C-38, as amended, be concurred in at the report stage.

The Deputy Speaker:
Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Some hon. members: Agreed.

Some hon. members: On division.

The Deputy Speaker: I declare the motion carried. When shall the bill be read the third time? By leave now?

Hon. Gary Lunn
moved that the bill be read the third time and passed.

The Deputy Speaker:
Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Some hon. members: Agreed.

Some hon. members: On division.

The Deputy Speaker: I declare the motion carried.
http://intensedebate.com/people/doug_rogers doug_rogers

Hmmm…. Ignatieff wasn't the Leader of the party at that time, so the statement that "the Opposition had lost confidence in Linda Keen" seems a bit of a stretch to me. The bills name suggests that it is about ordering the continuing operation of the reactor and doesn't specifically say that there is no confidence in Linda Keen, merely that the government is choosing to override her advice.

I don't know what 'the specific conditions" are.
Dot

semantics and technicalities.

de facto vote of non confidence – go read hansard, I gave the date, evening (emergency ) session
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jenn_ Jenn_

Are we playing Jarrid's game again? The one where you take two totally unrelated things to show that the one proves the other?

In this case they are at least somewhat related, but I see no direct correlation between operating the reactor and lost confidence in Linda Keen.
Canadian

Political appointees loose their jobs when it's politically expedient. It's the way it has always been and the way it will allays be.

These "watchdogs" are not impartial. They are partisan political actors and are treated as such.

How is this news?

Lord Kitchener's Own

Ahhh, the "Liberals used to do it too" defense.

Classic.

Dot

Well, you thankfully have no direct understanding how regulation works and the authority vested in a quasi judicial agency by parliament.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jenn_ Jenn_

No, thankfully, you are probably right. I still don't see how voting to keep the reactor going is akin to losing confidence in Linda Keen. As someone else said, the issue of providing the isotopes trumped some redundant safety features and speaks nothing to Ms. Keen doing the job she was supposed to do, which was shutting down a reactor in the face of a lack of redundant safety features.

Only now, of course, we understand it was more serious than that. But it perhaps take some time to really get a firm grasp of how much "they lie, they lie, they lie.'

http://intensedebate.com/people/doug_rogers doug_rogers

I argue semantics and technicalities with my teenager all the time. I have seen lawyers and Conservatives spin and split hairs. I have seen Conservatives apoplectically blame everyone else and try to make words mean what they want them to mean.
Dot

have you read hansard yet? When you do, come back with an informed opinion. It does get tiresome debating things on here where people's opinio9ns are substituted for readily available facts.

In the interim, here's a slide show with some nice pictures. Slide 3:

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC): Canada’s nuclear regulator

A federal quasi-judicial agency which reports to Parliament through the Minister of Natural Resources

Regulates the use of nuclear energy and materials
to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians and the environment;
to respect Canada’s international commitments on the peaceful use of nuclear energy; and
to disseminate objective information on the CNSC.

http://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/pubs_catalogue/uploads…