Sun, February 22, 2004
A watchdog with real bite
It took Fraser to make a Grit scandal stick
By STEPHANIE RUBEC, Parliamentary Bureau
CANADA'S SPENDING watchdog has taken a bite out of the Liberals, deeper than any opposition party has been able to inflict since 1993. Forget about the newly minted Conservative Party of Canada, the invigorated NDP and the separatist Bloc Quebecois. They've been trying in vain for more than a decade to make a scandal stick to the ruling Grits.
The $1-billion human resources boondoggle, the soaring cost of the gun registry and Shawinigate have all fallen off taxpayers' radars, barely causing a blip in the Liberal Party's popularity.
But earlier this month, Auditor General Sheila Fraser was able to succeed where the opposition failed -- convincing Canadians that the federal Liberals, under Jean Chretien or Paul Martin, are not as squeaky clean as they appear.
When the direct and plain-spoken Fraser tabled a scathing report that found Quebec ad agencies raked in $100 million in sponsorship commissions, sometimes for simply passing on a cheque, Canadians got mad.
John Williamson, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said Fraser has connected with Canadians with her no-nonsense style, as well as her courage to speak out about wrongdoings in government.
"She's proven to be the best friend taxpayers have," Williamson said.
In her latest audit, Fraser detailed case after case in which a dozen public servants running the $250-million sponsorship program broke contracting and financial rules.
"This is such a blatant misuse of public funds, it is shocking. Every time I read the report I get angry," Fraser said.
SECRET DEALS
Fraser said she was "shocked" to discover secret deals with the heads of the RCMP, Canada Post, VIA Rail, the Business Development Bank and the Old Port of Montreal doubled the commissions for ad agencies. And it was a plan blessed by former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano.
Fraser said the sponsorship program's first director general, Charles Guite, and Gagliano discussed grant approvals and directed them toward specific Liberal-friendly ad agencies who reaped generous commissions.
It's those political ties, and persistent questions of which politicians knew what was happening, that are dogging the Liberals.
The latest polls suggest Canadians are skeptical when Prime Minister Paul Martin says he didn't have a clue about the seriousness of the problems in the sponsorship program until Fraser's 2002 report.
Martin has insisted he wasn't in the loop during his decade as finance minister, and blamed the bad blood between Chretien and himself for his isolation.
"For a lot of people this is the final straw," said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto.
Wiseman said Fraser's criticisms carry more weight with the public than those of opposition parties because of her reputation for being unbiased and untainted.
"Because she is not a partisan person ... she has a lot of stature and she's perceived by the public as independent," Wiseman said.
"The opposition has been saying these things for years, but the public doesn't give it the same credibility because they say they have a vested interest."
Wiseman said he believes the sponsorship mess was the turning point for taxpayers, but warned the scandal could lose the public's attention if inquiries into the matter get bogged down in tedious legal arguments.
Conservative MP John Williams, chairman of the Commons committee probing the sponsorship scandal, praised Fraser's ability to get Canadians involved and her ability to cut through bureaucratic red tape.
WIELDS POWER
"I think she's engaging the public and by doing so the government feels the pressure to make the necessary changes," Williams said.
Fraser has managed to shake up the federal government because, unlike opposition MPs, she wields the power to force public servants and politicians to own up to the truth and produce documents, Williams said.
"We, as the Opposition, are stonewalled," he said. "We couldn't get to the meat and the heart of (the sponsorships.)"
Martin showed a willingness last week to take down the wall, offering up all secret cabinet documents on the sponsorships to Williams' public accounts committee. The unprecedented move broke previously ironclad rules that keep cabinet documents sealed for 30 years.
As for Fraser, University of Ottawa political scientist Duncan Cameron warned that she must be leashed and stopped from entering the political ring. Cameron pointed to Fraser's use of inflammatory language and straying from her accountant roots.
However, Cameron praised the Bloc Quebecois for hammering away at Martin and called on the Conservatives to follow its lead.
If those parties don't begin flexing their muscles, Canadians may get over their snit and return to the Liberal fold in the expected spring election, handing the party a fourth consecutive victory.
