Breaking: New Liberal Scandal

[BQSupporter]

Audit of Toronto waterfront deal uncovers travel, contract problems DEAN BEEBY

Fri Dec 23, 4:28 PM ET

OTTAWA (CP) - An audit of millions of dollars spent sprucing up Toronto's waterfront has found numerous contracting irregularities and questionable overseas travel.

The federal audit, obtained by The Canadian Press, examines how the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. has spent almost $30 million since 2001, when it was created to clean up and modernize the city's often dingy lakeshore.

The funding is split evenly among Ottawa, the province and the city.

The corporation's agreement with the three levels of government required that any contracts it signed for construction, goods or services worth more than $75,000 had to be put out to competitive bids.

But the investigators found 10 such contracts - representing about a third of the value of all contracts signed - where there was no competitive bidding at all.

They also found two major contracts that were signed two years after the goods or services first began to be provided, also contrary to the rules.

The audit document, from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, does not identify individual firms or provide details of the problem contracts, such as their value.

The investigation also found that corporation executives made several overseas trips without the prior approval of a federal secretariat that was set up by Ottawa to monitor all spending. Again, no further details such as costs and destinations were outlined in the document.

The auditors, who sampled internal files dating from November 2001 to March 2004, also found instances of missing and inaccurate paperwork.

The federal secretariat that acts as the corporation's watchdog says it will investigate contracting procedures and the travel policy to resolve problems by March next year.

The corporation is also "in the process of formulating a travel policy," says the audit document, dated December 2005 and based on work carried out earlier in the year.

The $75,000 threshold for competitive contracts at the corporation is already far more generous than in many federal government departments, where contracts worth more than $25,000 must typically be publicly tendered. At some agencies, the threshold can be as low as $5,000.

A spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration, which has taken over responsibility for the Toronto project, said the audit has sparked a new probe into the non-tendered contracts.

"They'll be reviewing those 10 contracts," said Greg Scott. "The auditors will obviously review those to make sure that they were awarded appropriately."

John Campbell, CEO and president of the corporation since April 2003, said the problem contracts were signed just as the organization was being established.

"In the early days, there were some untendered, sole-source contracts, to get the project up and running," he said in an interview from Toronto.

"Since we've been here, probably the last two or three years, we have a fairly stringent scrutiny on the competitive process."

Campbell added that his overseas trips to London, Hamburg and Barcelona, with board chair Robert Fung, were to inspect other waterfront projects and all were approved after the fact by the corporation's board.

The waterfront revitalization project was formally launched in 2001 as part of Toronto's ultimately futile bid for the 2008 summer Olympics, which are being held in Beijing instead.

Projects included cleaning up the mouth of the Don River, expansion of Union Station and a road extension.

The waterfront corporation as recently as September spent $12.25 million acquiring undeveloped lakeshore property from newspaper publisher Torstar Corp.

Ottawa, like the City of Toronto and the province, has committed $500 million to Toronto's waterfront until 2008. So far, the corporation has received only about 10 per cent of that, or $54.3 million in federal money, since 2001.

The non-profit corporation has 21 full-time employees. The federal secretariat that oversees the corporation has 11 employees.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20051223/ca...HE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

This would be the same waterfront that the Liberals promised to fixup in 1972, 1974, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1993, 1997. 2000 and 2004.

I knew all that money had to be going somewhere. It sure as heck never made it to the Toronto Waterfront.

[tml12]

You know I feel bad for Martin. I mean, he never really had a chance to govern this country after years of hateful Chretien's corruption. Think of how much fun he is having now... :angry:

If people don't think the Liberals need to go now then there is no hope for Canada.

[BQSupporter]

The difference between this new scandal and the many many others is that this scandal hits right into the heart of Liberal political power in Canada the GTA area.

We all know that if the Liberals go down in the GTA the are finished.

Lets see if the media picks up on this new scandal next week, the second to last week of the campaign.

Things are getting very very desparate for Martin and the gang and like we have seen already on the Blog they are going to try to sling mud in any direction they can.

Like rats running up and down a sinking ship trying to stop it from taking on water, there will come a time when they realize that there is too much water on board and its time to abandon ship before they sink with it.

In here in Quebec soft Liberals are starting to go over to the Conservatives.

The debates next week are going to be fun. Its going to be a laugh a minute especially on Martins part. He is going to dusked off the old Liberal book of dirty tricks to try to save himself.

[August1991]

From the link above:

The federal audit, obtained by The Canadian Press, examines how the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. has spent almost $30 million since 2001, when it was created to clean up and modernize the city's often dingy lakeshore.

How did the CP obtain that document? Who gave it to the CP?

[shoop]

Who knows? Better yet, who cares? What is the big deal with revealing a journailistic source?

How did the CP obtain that document? Who gave it to the CP?

[BQSupporter]

My guess that its some Chretienites in the campaign and in the various departments of government.

I think its become clear that there are people within the Liberal Party that are actively working to defeat Paul Martin with the blessing of Chretien himself.

[tml12]

My guess that its some Chretienites in the campaign and in the various departments of government.

I think its become clear that there are people within the Liberal Party that are actively working to defeat Paul Martin with the blessing of Chretien himself.

No doubt about it.

[August1991]

Who knows? Better yet, who cares? What is the big deal with revealing a journailistic source?

How did the CP obtain that document? Who gave it to the CP?

You can't understand the game unless you have a programme.

[shoop]

Yet again August you are going to have to enlighten me. What the hell do you mean?

BQSupporter could be right. Or it could be one of the multitude of unhappy Federal civil servants in Ottawa.

You can't understand the game unless you have a programme.

[justcrowing]

Yet again August you are going to have to enlighten me. What the hell do you mean?

BQSupporter could be right. Or it could be one of the multitude of unhappy Federal civil servants in Ottawa.

You can't understand the game unless you have a programme.

It might well be that. Knowing someone who worked in Ottawa in the Civil Service in a fairly high position said they are all under a "gag order" so their only way to speak out would be leak information. Cute!!

[August1991]

Shoop, I merely meant that all these scandals coming to light now, during the last few weeks of an election campaign, have an orchestrated feel to them. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but I must admit that there are many Chretienites who, this time out, really don't want to see Paul Martin succeed.

Take Jean Pelletier, for example. He was reinstated by a federal court and then fired a second time by Jean Lapierre. Gomery implicated him directly into Adscam. Do you think Pelletier is going to be neutral in this campaign?

[tml12]

Shoop, I merely meant that all these scandals coming to light now, during the last few weeks of an election campaign, have an orchestrated feel to them. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but I must admit that there are many Chretienites who, this time out, really don't want to see Paul Martin succeed.

Take Jean Pelletier, for example. He was reinstated by a federal court and then fired a second time by Jean Lapierre. Gomery implicated him directly into Adscam. Do you think Pelletier is going to be neutral in this campaign?

You know, August, there is a lot to what you are saying. I have suspected it too.

Chretien is a free man (sadly) and he is probably hoping for a Conservative minority so Martin could get dumped quickly.

I don't dislike Martin. He is either very ignorant or too self-assured. Regardless, the Liberals need to go. Sadly, Martin will have to pay the price for one of his idiocies.