Beyond The Commons

 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

'She has to go'

by Aaron Wherry on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 1:57pm - 63 Comments

Ned Franks, the dean of parliamentary scholars, passes judgment on Bev Oda.

“My belief is she has to go. There is no excuse for what she did. She altered a document to misrepresent a recommendation – and then she claimed she hadn’t done it. Those are two of the worst offences a minister can do,” says Dr. Franks. “She may resign but the House of Commons might still find her guilty of contempt of Parliament. The last time somebody was found guilty of contempt of Parliament was in 1913, almost a century ago. It’s a very rare thing.”

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  • wsam

    This proves Ned Franks hates Canada.

    • Blues Clair

      Indeed, it's deeply disturbing, Ned the egghead. He should resign.

    • herringchoker

      Actually wsam, it means that Ned Franks needs to read the papers more. The last time somebody was found guilty of contempt of Parliament was 2008. Her name was Barbara George and she was a deputy commissioner of the RCMP. (http://tinyurl.com/46jkd7j)

    • Caper George

      A strange and unusual comment that lacks logic.

  • Dot

    Give her a box of Jos. Louis cakes. That'll coax her.

    • wsam

      That's mean. And racist.

      • McC_

        and delicious. and regretable.

    • CAPS

      For Mrs. Oda they are "litle chocolate cakes …"

  • Passing by

    Franks lives in a town that often elects Liberals.

    Do I have to connect the dots for you?

    • Dave

      Not only that: Ned Franks once rode the Halifax harbour ferry when a Liberal was sitting three benches away.

      • MostlyCivil

        Dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnn…!

  • Jan

    Playing the race/gender card now? Desperation has set in. Too funny.

    • alfanerd

      im not going to use the </sarcasm> tag for the likes of you.

      Bev Oda is a tool, and she should resign. Although you should be thankful she's giving the haters on these boards something to yap about so they can ignore the latest poll numbers…

      • Jan

        Dreadfully sorry Allnerd, I had no idea you had sarcasm in your toolbox. How about irony – maybe you should give that a try?

        • alfanerd

          if im using a tool of the left (e.g., identity politics, faux outrage, feigning offense…) Im being sarcastic.

          • Jan

            You truly are a renaissance nerd. Al.

      • Emily

        THE POLLSTERS have told us to ignore the polls
        http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingn…

        Harper has said the same
        http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/otta…

        • burlivespipe

          Whot!? The Harper bagmen didn't pay them to also lie about the importance of those polls? I guess it's because the CONs were asked to pay for it themselves and not use taxpayers funds…

  • Blue

    First Ned Flanders and now Ned Franks—-soon all the Neds will want Oda to go.

    • Jan

      The Neds have it.

    • gottabesaid

      I hear Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost is fuming about this whole thing.

      • EeeOar

        The whole thing seems kinda fishy…..

        Therefore, I'm still all "Ned Oda Eels" about this story.

  • Leo

    Ned Franks has a short memory. Liberals have no memory.

    George Radwanski became the first Canadian to be found guilty of contempt of Parliament in 90 years yesterday, although the disgraced former privacy commissioner escaped any penalty with an 11th-hour apology after five months of denying any wrongdoing.

    MPs voted unanimously to find Mr. Radwanski guilty of contempt after a sub-committee report earlier in the week found he deliberately misled Parliament this year. The Liberal appointee had been accused of altering documents and misrepresenting his lavish expense claims.

    The government is still trying to recoup more than $200,000 that Auditor-General Sheila Fraser identified in her scathing audit of Mr. Radwanski's tenure at the privacy commission.
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/radw…

    • wsam

      That's a lie. You hate Canada.

    • McC_

      just guessing, but perhaps by "somebody" Franks meant "The last time [a Parliamentarian] was found guilty of contempt of Parliament was in 1913, almost a century ago"?

      • Leo

        Actually he said it that way on purpose. Right now it is all about the opposition making Oda look like a criminal for the 85% of Canadians who do not follow politics.

        • John D

          I don't think she needs their help.

        • LdKitchenersOwn

          Why bother making her look like a criminal? Shouldn't mere incompetence and lying to a Parliamentary Committee be a firing offense for a Minister of the Crown?

          • wsam

            Depends how it polls.

          • Leo

            We wouldn't have any ministers left, lol!!

          • LdKitchenersOwn

            LOL.

            Maybe true, but I'm only actually suggesting we fire the Ministers who are CAUGHT lying to Parliament.

            In fact, if need be, I think we could limit that further to "Ministers who are caught incompetently telling transparent lies to Parliament" and we could still fire Oda.

        • burlivespipe

          You're so right Leo. Obviously if you lie on behalf of Stephen Harper, it is not an unreported crime. Just another day at the office, tho…

      • Erkel

        In 1913, R.C. Miller, a witness before the Public Accounts Committee, refused to answer questions. This was reported to the House, whereupon it adopted a motion summoning Mr. Miller to appear before the Bar and answer questions. Mr. Miller made two appearances before the Bar and on both occasions was permitted to have counsel. He was directed to withdraw after he refused to provide the information requested by the Committee. The House then adopted a motion stating that Mr. Miller was in contempt of the House and that he should be imprisoned. Mr. Miller was again brought before the Bar and the resolution was read to him.
        http://www2.parl.gc.ca/procedure-book-livre/Docum…

        • harebell

          So Mr Miller didn't lie to the House unlike the Minister.
          He refused to answer questions just like the Ministers in this government.
          If his refusal amounted to contempt then, the Harper and his winged monkeys' performances yesterday during QP must also be contemptuous.

    • Anon ABC

      This is from the same link you cited: " …A last-minute deal between party House leaders, however, spared Mr. Radwanski the sort of tough penalties — fines or even a token jail sentence — that MPs from all sides had been talking about in recent weeks. "This is really disappointing to most people who are appalled by Radwanski," said New Democrat MP Pat Martin, also a member of the committee that looked into Mr. Radwanski's conduct. "It makes us impotent." ….".

      Seems to me that there was a deal between the Cons and Libs without the support of the NDP to let him go without penalty. So maybe both the Cons and the Libs would like to forget about the incident? But you are right about this incident occurring 90 yrs ago though. LOL

      • Leo

        Wonder if they ever collected the $200,000 in expenses? You never hear how these things end.

        • Jan

          They cancelled his pension but he was charged and acquited. Cue the 'liberal judiciary' rant. But how this somehow excuses Oda, I do not know.

          • lgarvin

            Nobody claimed that Radwanski excuses Oda.

            Leo's post merely refutes an erroneous claim by Mr. Franks. Accuracy counts for Ms. Oda and accuracy counts for Mr. Franks. Simple, eh?

          • Mike T.

            Mr. Franks should correct himself and we should return to the current matter!

        • MostlyCivil

          Whatever happened to all that cash we gave Mulroney? Can we take the Radwanski stuff out of that?

          • Leo

            Morally he should pay it back, but, you know lawyers…..

    • MostlyCivil

      Leo, leo…you should have what was going to happen here:

      "George Radwanski became the first Canadian to (NOT) be found guilty of contempt of Parliament in 90 years yesterday"

      See how easy that was?

      • Leo

        A "KAIROS is (NOT) going away" T-shirt for you!!!! :-))

    • LdKitchenersOwn

      Now you've ruined it for Minister Oda! Before, at least she'd be able to hang her hat on being the first person in almost a century to be found guilty of contempt of Parliament.

      Now when it happens she'll be just another person found guilty of contempt of Parliament.

      It's kinda sad.

    • lgarvin

      Ouch! A properly cited, factual rebutall. That'll NOT be popular around here.

      Good job, Leo

      • Leo

        Got my flack jacket on, lol!!! My MP said they are gathering ammo right now, so should be interesting!!

        • gottabesaid

          Wow. A Conservative using facts in a rebuttal… how novel.

          (Your flak jacket hold up OK? I had to test it out. : ) )

  • MostlyCivil

    If Bev stays, may I suggest a series of low-budget commercials the Liberals might want to try?

    Michael Ignattief:

    Not (NOT) a leader.

    (NOT) Just Visiting

    He didn't (NOT) come back for you.

    • BCer in Mtl

      How about a clip from the Harper working late ad, zooming in on his hand, inscribing "NOT" on every document?

  • Funky Winkerbean

    Beer and popcorn. Not a leader. Just visiting.

    • LdKitchenersOwn

      Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

      • Funky Winkerbean

        And the irony is that Canadians will just shrug and say, "Meh". We reap what we sew. The erosion of Parliamentary democracy is Canada started 30 years ago and continues under the current regime. The PMO calls the shots and Oda is just a puppet – we deserve this as Canadians, I think, because we put up with it.

  • Western expat

    This is not the laughing matter that most dim witted or excessively partisan poster think it is. It goes to the very heart of our Constitutional democracy and responsible government.

    • Mike T.

      When things go to the heart of responsible government that's EXACTLY WHEN this government starts laughing. Mainly at their supporters.

    • Andrew (not PorC)

      "This is not the laughing matter that most dim witted or excessively partisan poster think it is. It <insert>does not</insert> goes to the very heart of our Constitutional democracy and responsible government. "

      I'm glad you agree with me, expat. This issue is trivial distraction.

  • LdKitchenersOwn

    Those leftist shills at the National Post apparently agree with Mr. Franks.

    I'll update if any information becomes available as to precisely why the NP Editorial Board hates the troops.

  • Peterb

    “In this case, the Minister’s decision was to reject the recommendation provided to her, and direct that CIDA not provide funding to KAI-ROS,” it read. “The Minister had reviewed the memo, made her decision not to approve the funding application, and asked her staff to follow through on it.

    “The Minister was travelling out of Ottawa on the day that her staff completed the paper work to implement her decision, so they, with the Minister’s authority, applied her automated signature, which is used when required because a Minister is unable to personally sign a document, and indicated her decision on the memo by clearly indicating that she did NOT approve the funding application.”

    According to the background document, the memo was then returned to the “very officials” who had sent it to Oda for a decision. Because of that, says the government, the two bureaucrats whose names were on the memo “could not have been misled” because they knew that the word “not” had been inserted.
    And the Tories say Oda did not lie when asked at a Commons committee last December if she knew who inserted the word “not” on the memo, because she didn’t know which staff member was responsible.
    After all Oda was not physically present to see who wrote the “not” in, as she was out of Ottawa when the “not” was inserted to follow her direction to staff to not approve the funding for Karios

    Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Aide+stamped+si…

  • Peterb

    This has to be joke that Maclean's trots Ned Franks out as a parliamentary scholar, when every one knows he is a Liberal apparatchik, who is the go to person when Liberals want a supporter from the academic community. ,Liberals also use Franks as a cheerleader for themselves when necessary . Last January when the Liberals were in the dumps because of prorogation and they held their infamous round table it was Franks they called upon to address the Liberal faithful. They also brought the infamous Linda Keen, who Harper fired as CEO Nuclear safety commission, to that roundtable along with Franks. We should be reminded that she had the distinction that every MP ( including all Liberals) voted to overturn Keen's decision to close down the nuclear reactor – talk about somebody being out of touch – yet Liberals dragged her carcass to their infamous roundtable which was a complete bust. I wouldn't be surprised if both Franks and Keen were given honorary Liberal membership cards . Does this article say a lot about where Aaron Wherry is coming from – does he have an honorary Liberal membership card as well or did he actually go out and buy one and if he did he is a bigger fool than I thought ( they are giving them away for free on almost any street corner.)

  • Peterb

    Ned Franks must be suffering from senility and maybe it is time ffor Maclean;s and Liberals to dig out some other so called expert to serve their partisan purposes.
    Ned Franks said "The last time somebody was found guilty of contempt of Parliament was in 1913" which is totally false.

    They say that recent events are the first to not be remembered in cases of senility and this would fit in with diagnosis of senility for Franks since it was only as recent as 2003
    "MPs voted unanimously to find Mr. Radwanski guilty of contempt after a sub-committee report earlier in the week found he deliberately misled Parliament this year. The Liberal appointee had been accused of altering documents and misrepresenting his lavish expense claims."

    Does Professor Emeritus after Franks name denote senile?
    ,

  • Mike T.

    Silly columnist, consequences are for Liberals.

  • wsam

    HA!!!

  • Skinny Dipper

    Autocrat Harper will either prorogue Parliament or call an election before the opposition gets a chance to find Oda in contempt of Parliament.

    Harper is NOT a democrat.

  • Mike T.

    If it suits his purposes he'd let her hang.

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