Roger Varley has been in the news business almost 40 years with The Canadian Press/Broadcast News, Uxbnridge Times-Journal, Richmond Hill Liberal and Uxbridge Cosmos. Co-winner with two others of CCNA national feature writing award. In Scout movement over 30 years, almost 25 as a leader. Took Uxbridge youths to World Jamboree in Holland. Involved in community theatre for 20 years as actor, director, playwright, stage manager etc. Born in England, came to Canada at 16, lived most of life north and east of Toronto with a five-year period in B.C.
Whatever happened to integrity?
?Whatever happened
to integrity?
Some time ago, after writing a story about the Uxbridge Bruins that was completely wrong, I sent a letter of apology to the Bruins and offered my resignation to the Cosmos. Last year, before announcing my decision to run for council, I severed my ties with the Cosmos.
In both cases, I saw it as a matter of integrity, of doing the right thing. Not that I hold myself up as a paragon of virtue – far from it – but this is something I learned when I was growing up. It was covered by a simple word: honour.
There is not much honourable about the Honourable Bev Oda's actions regarding a certain government document and her subsequent lies to cover up those actions. (If you are not aware of the story, please see our item on Page 1 of this issue of the Cosmos.)
It's one thing to lie on the campaign trail: it's something we've come to expect when politicians are seeking election. I suppose they are not so much lies as promises meant to be broken at a later date. But to lie to one's fellow Parliamentarians in the course of conducting the nation's business is a much different issue. By doing so, Ms. Oda not only showed gross disrespect for her peers, she also showed utter contempt for the Canadian public and democracy as a whole.
It might even be worse. It is possible – and I leave it to the experts to judge – that in facilitating the altering of the document in the way she did, the minister broke the law by committing fraud and, further, that by lying to a Parliamentary committee she committed perjury.
Her excuse for having the document altered can only be termed as pathetic.
“Given the way the document was formatted … this was the only way to reflect my decision,” she said by way of explaining why she had the word “not” inserted into the document to completely reverse the intent of the original document. I think any ninth grade schoolboy would know there was another way: if you don't agree with a document that has been sent for your signature, you just don't sign it. In this case, Ms. Oda could have returned the document to the civil servants who had sent it to her and told them it was unacceptable. If Ms. Oda can't figure that out, how can she be trusted with being responsible for a government ministry?
But Ms. Oda continued to compound her error. She told the House of Commons that she had not meant to mislead anyone. She told an outright lie to a Commons committee and then has the audacity to say she didn't mean to mislead anyone? Sounds to me very much like another lie to cover the original lie.
In our democratic system, our Parliamentary representatives, from the prime minister to the lowliest backbencher, are supposed to be the best people we can assemble to run the affairs of the country. And we pay them all handsomely to do that job to the best of their ability. Canadians deserve better than to have ministers of the Crown lying to us and using unethical methods to further their party's ideological platform.
The question of whether the agency that was denied federal funding as a result of Ms. Oda's document alteration – KAIROS – was worthy of funding is absolutely beside the point. I don't care if it was an organization dedicated to assisting alcoholic one-legged kangaroos. The minister was quite within her rights to deny the funding if she so wished. The point is, Ms. Oda made it look like two senior civil servants were in favour of one course of action while, in fact, they were in favour of the complete opposite. She also tried to make it look as though it was the civil servants who had denied the funding, not her.
That anyone can attempt to justify her actions or find excuses for her simply boggles my mind. I would think that if there is the slightest remnant of integrity left in her, Ms. Oda would resign. It would be the honourable thing to do. However, there is no sign that the thought has even entered her head. In fact, there are no signs that she is even aware of how seriously wrong her actions are. She even went so far as to ask a Liberal MP “What is your issue?” when he questioned her about the incident.
It seems to me that if she runs for re-election, the voters of this riding should let her know in no uncertain terms just exactly what the issue is. It's integrity.
Tell me, am I wrong?
