Ethics charges between Canadian neocon PM and commissioner reaches boiling point

[Grimmlok]

Tory MP calls for watchdog's ouster

Harper urged to clarify Shapiro's role
Mar. 7, 2006. 01:00 AM
LES WHITTINGTON
OTTAWA BUREAU


OTTAWA—The blow-up between Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives and the federal ethics watchdog has escalated, with one Tory MP now calling for Bernard Shapiro's head.

MP John Williams (Edmonton-St. Albert), former head of the House of Commons public accounts committee, said Shapiro should be fired.

"He has to go," Williams told CBC-TV. "How do we get rid of the guy?"

Shapiro last week announced a preliminary investigation to see whether Harper breached ethics' rules when he asked re-elected Liberal MP David Emerson to switch parties and join the Conservative cabinet.

In response, Harper's spokesperson questioned Shapiro's credibility and said the Prime Minister was "loathe" to be interviewed by the ethics commissioner, who has been a target of Tory criticism in the past.

The Liberals yesterday said the government's attack on the ethics commissioner shows contempt for Parliament and a lack of respect for democracy.

In an open letter yesterday, Liberal MP Wayne Easter (Malpeque) demanded Harper clarify his position on the role of independent government watchdogs.

"Should Canadians now expect that if the Auditor General (Sheila Fraser) were to indicate an intent to investigate your government, your response would be to refuse to co-operate with her on the basis that she was appointed by a previous Liberal government?" Easter, a former solicitor general, wrote.

Shapiro was openly derided by the Tories last year, when they were in opposition, as a "toothless, anemic chihuahua" and a "wet noodle."

Easter, one of three MPs who requested that Shapiro launch the probe, questioned whether Harper believes that independent officers of Parliament should be free to carry out their assigned functions without political interference.

"The real question is: Is this Prime Minister not accountable for his actions to the Parliament of Canada?" he said in an interview. "Where are we going with this Prime Minister? We have a democracy here, not a dictatorship."

NDP Leader Jack Layton said he was "quite shocked" to hear Harper had indicated he wouldn't be interviewed by Shapiro for the preliminary investigation.

He said Harper's ethical stance appears to have been turned upside down. "We all knew ethics was important to the Prime Minister, but it's turning out to be important in a quite unfortunate way."

Shapiro, a former university administrator and senior public servant at Queen's Park, was named Parliament's first independent ethics watchdog in May 2004. He will serve for five years unless "removed for cause" by cabinet in response to a resolution passed by MPs.

CTV News reported last night that the Conservatives are shopping around for a replacement for Shapiro. Their first choice was Ed Broadbent, but the former NDP leader, whose wife is battling cancer, turned it down, CTV said.

Easter said any attempt to replace Shapiro would draw fierce opposition. "It would be paramount to a judge investigating someone and then having that person fire the judge," he said.

Jonathan Choquette, a Shapiro spokesperson, said the commissioner hasn't been told officially Harper won't allow Shapiro to interview him about Emerson's recruitment. "We're still hopeful that the inquiry process will be able to proceed."

Choquette pointed out that Shapiro's appointment was approved by the Commons after consultation with all party leaders and the post was specifically designed to be independent of political influence.

It's not unusual for quasi-judicial inquiries to spawn political criticism, Choquette said.

"We've seen that before with what happened with (Calgary East Conservative MP Deepak) Obhrai and all that."

Last year, a Commons committee declared Shapiro in contempt of Parliament for making what the committee called inappropriate public comments in connection with an investigation of bribery allegations against Obhrai.

Obhrai has repeatedly said the allegations are false and based on a family dispute.