Bev Oda's Office Caught Forging Document

[nicky10013]

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/02/11/cida-castigated-over-doctored-document/

International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda and senior members of her staff deliberately “doctored” a document to make it look like department officials recommended de-funding KAIROS when they had in fact recommended doing just the opposite. House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken called the incident “very troubling,” though he conceded his position allowed him to do little in response. The crudely modified document features the hand-scrawled word “NOT” inserted into a recommendation that originally suggested Oda and her staff “sign below to indicate you approve a contribution” of just over $7 million to KAIROS. The group subsequently lost its federal funding, which amounted to about 40 per cent of its total budget.

Not surprising from our "open and transparent" government.

[Molly]

And someone asked why I call this lot 'mendacious'...

[Jack Weber]

No matter what one thinks of KAIROS,this is election bulletin board material for the oppostion during a federal election if the Con's try to bring up their "Transparency and Accountability" talking points...

Edited February 12, 2011 by Jack Weber

[Shakeyhands]

No defense from the booster club. I wonder why?

[Wilber]

If someone was just making notes on a document that is one thing. If they changed it and then represented it as the opinion of those who wrote and signed it originally, that is something else indeed.

[Wild Bill]

No defense from the booster club. I wonder why?

Well, we are talking about politicians here, aren't we?

Seriously, we really don't know enough. Where did this thing come from? Did Bev Oda make it herself? Was it done under her direction, or was it just a doodle by one of her staffers?

Could it have been left in a reception room by anybody who walked in off the street?

We just don't know! As I said, Oda IS a politician and thus can't be trusted carte blanche, by definition. That being said, I can't help but feel that if she had have been a Liberal there would already be at least 10 posters pointing out what I just pointed out to give room for her to be innocent.

[Keepitsimple]

No defense from the booster club. I wonder why?

Because there doesn't appear to be any logical defense. CIDA recommended the funding. If the government wanted to deny the funding, they should have done so through a separate letter - not alter the signed document. Since either way, CIDA would have known that their recommendation was denied, I can only assume that this was bureaucratic incompetence/ignorance - someone over-rode the recommendation in a foolish manner. Having said all that, it is the Minister's right to deny the funding. But it is as the speaker says - troubling.

[Shwa]

From the Globe

Speaker rebukes Bev Oda over document in Kairos case

The case concerns the Conservative government’s controversial 2009 decision to cut off church-backed aid group Kairos from federal aid funding. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney initially told an Israeli audience that Kairos was cut off because the government didn’t like its views on Israel, but Ms. Oda and other Tories insisted it was a routine decision.

Aid groups and opponents charged that the Conservatives have decided to cut off aid to groups whose political views differ from theirs – but the Tories said bureaucrats at the Canadian International Development Agency concluded Kairos no longer matched their priorities.

But new documents that emerged last December show that CIDA’s top officials signed a memorandum recommending new funding for Kairos before someone – the government won’t say who – inserted the word “not,” overruling the recommendation.

Now in defence of Minister Oda...well, there is no defence on Minister Oda. She is on the hook for this one:

MPs slam Bev Oda over ‘doctored’ document

OTTAWA—International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda on Monday admitted she was behind the mysterious “not” that was handwritten on a government document that ended funding for church-backed aid organization Kairos and its international relief work.

Reversing her earlier testimony at a Commons committee — where she had claimed not to know who penned the extra word — and revealed she had, in fact, directed an unnamed official to add the word “not.”

“The funding decision was mine. The ‘not’ was inserted at my direction,” Oda said in a surprise statement in the Commons.

At least she admits it. Minister Oda cold not be reached for further comment as she was too busy taking a limo out for a spin with Jim Prentice.

[August1991]

No defense from the booster club. I wonder why?

Because this is a beltway issue.

If the opposition thinks that they can gain votes or support by attacking Bev Oda over a CIDA subsidy to a left wing group, they are sorely mistaken. On the contrary, this will lose them votes.

[waldo]

Because this is a beltway issue...

...a CIDA subsidy to a left wing group

oh...that's the issue? A, "CIDA subsidy to a left wing group"... that's the issue? Weren't all the signatures, including Oda's, fixed to the document before the 'NOT' amendment was added?

duplicitous: Given to or marked by deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech.

[Shwa]

Because this is a beltway issue.

If the opposition thinks that they can gain votes or support by attacking Bev Oda over a CIDA subsidy to a left wing group, they are sorely mistaken. On the contrary, this will lose them votes.

Possibly, but in today's Twitter and Facebook age all it takes is a really dumb move like Minister Oda and it is out there. Not as a singular force itself, but as part of a compendium. No one needs to make an attack ad about it, but they can certainly mention it in passing...

[August1991]

oh...that's the issue? A, "CIDA subsidy to a left wing group"... that's the issue? Weren't all the signatures, including Oda's, fixed to the document before the 'NOT' amendment was added?

If anyone in the real world bothers to look at this, yes, the real issue is a CIDA subsidy to a left wing group.

Possibly, but in today's Twitter and Facebook age all it takes is a really dumb move like Minister Oda and it is out there.

And in the Twitter/Facebook world, this issue will last for all of 15 seconds like every other subject in that world.

That may be a good thing for the Liberals though because the more they harp on this, the more votes they lose.

[Wild Bill]

Well, if Bev Oda has been caught fair and square then I don't see any problem.

Hang her!

It would make all the other politicians a lot more careful!

[scribblet]

Agree, if there's nothing to defend then why try, if she really did this, she should step down. The opposition is smelling blood of course and baying at the moon, but I doubt it'll help win an election.

[Molly]

If anyone in the real world bothers to look at this, yes, the real issue is a CIDA subsidy to a left wing group.

Yeah- integrity never counts when your guy is the dirty shirt.

At some point your concience and your dignity must cringe at the idiocy that partisan hack-hood puts you through.

[Pliny]

No defense from the booster club. I wonder why?

What's to defend? This isn't defensible. Unlike the "can do no wrong" liberals.

It's all good though, right waldo? Right nicky? If funding was cut to anyone it couldn't have happened to a more deserving group. A coalition of Christian religious organizations for "social justice".

Wring your hands. Kairos should be defunded...should not be defunded...oh me...oh my!

The best solution would be to fund them now to help with the cause of "social justice" then crush them later as being unscientific and get them some real "help". Yes...yes....for now they are a useful tool in the drive for social justice...they can be defunded later - out of economic necessity, of course...nothing personal or political, ya know.

duplicitous: Given to or marked by deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech.

There is definitely more to this story. Why would she want to defund this group? If she had the power to do so why didn't she just do so against the recommendations of CIDA? Why would CIDA approve the funding? Is it a hotbed of liberal bureaucrats perhaps?

Oh well...let's just say she cut the funding out of economic necessity....nothing personal or political, ya know.

Edited February 15, 2011 by Pliny

[August1991]

Deleted.

Edited February 15, 2011 by August1991

[August1991]

Yeah- integrity never counts when your guy is the dirty shirt.

At some point your concience and your dignity must cringe at the idiocy that partisan hack-hood puts you through.

If the opposition wants to hang (h/t to WB) a cabinet minister for lack of integrity, they should pick a different minister and a different example. This one ain't gonna fly.

Every time someone mentions a CIDA subsidy to a left wing group, under whatever guise, the Liberals lose support. Every time there's a picture of Bev Oda, it just reminds (undecided) voters that there are women in Harper's cabinet.

[Evening Star]

Oda's action is utterly contemptible but August may be right in terms of how this will play out with the general public. While I would say this is on the same ethical level as the sponsorship scandal, Oda's action didn't cost taxpayers money and, unfortunately, the victim might not inspire that much sympathy in much of the public. Who knows, though?

[Wild Bill]

Oda's action is utterly contemptible but August may be right in terms of how this will play out with the general public. While I would say this is on the same ethical level as the sponsorship scandal, Oda's action didn't cost taxpayers money and, unfortunately, the victim might not inspire that much sympathy in much of the public. Who knows, though?

I don't see how this ethically equates to the sponsorship scandal, Star. Not even close! Oda was dealing with a choice of giving a grant to some special interest group. That is routine for all governments.

AdScam was a case of STEALING grant monies and giving them to the Liberal Party! It was the most unethical thing ever done by a political party ever, at least in Canada.

[Oleg Bach]

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/02/11/cida-castigated-over-doctored-document/

Not surprising from our "open and transparent" government.

Goverment is staffed mostly by lawyers - lawyers control though deception and conspiracy..That's the nature of the profession - all power is conducted in secrecy...because those that seek power are NOT benevolent human beings.

[Shwa]

If anyone in the real world bothers to look at this, yes, the real issue is a CIDA subsidy to a left wing group.

So?

And in the Twitter/Facebook world, this issue will last for all of 15 seconds like every other subject in that world.

You mean like the revolutions in the Middle East right? That 15 seconds over there...

That may be a good thing for the Liberals though because the more they harp on this, the more votes they lose.

How so?

[Molly]

Oda's action is utterly contemptible but August may be right in terms of how this will play out with the general public. While I would say this is on the same ethical level as the sponsorship scandal, Oda's action didn't cost taxpayers money and, unfortunately, the victim might not inspire that much sympathy in much of the public. Who knows, though?

Yep. I can't disagree with that.

I don't entirely disagree with the defunding either, because it chaps my butt to see religious groups managing taxpayers money, but the buck-passing and (habitual) lying about it bugs me even worse.

[Moonbox]

You mean like the revolutions in the Middle East right? That 15 seconds over there...

Hahahahaaha.

There's a red herring if I've ever seen one. It takes a really special sort of intellect to compare an Egyptian uprising to Bev Oda lol.

[Shwa]

Hahahahaaha.

There's a red herring if I've ever seen one. It takes a really special sort of intellect to compare an Egyptian uprising to Bev Oda lol.

An even specialer sort of intellect to think that the reference was a comparison between Egypt and Bev Oda. The reference was to Twitter and it's ability to inform and give issues immediate traction.

If you missed that, you may want to loosen the straps on your hockey helmet.