CIDA document 'doctored,' Speaker rules

[CHIMO]

A scathing ruling by the Commons Speaker Peter Milliken confirms that a key government document signed by International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda and two of her most senior officials was deliberately “doctored.”

Milliken called the document tampering "very troubling."

“Any reasonable person confronted with what appears to have transpired would necessarily be extremely concerned, if not shocked,” Milliken wrote in his decision.

Milliken said technicalities prevented him from doing anything further about the incident.

http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/02/11/kairos-speaker-oda.html
Friday, February 11, 2011 | 1:52 PM ET

Lies and cheats. Should have the police investigate fraud. If it was $1.00 they would have them in jail. They did the crime, they deserve the time.

[CHIMO]

1. What Happened

To "You do the crime, you do the time?"

Oda admits she had CIDA document altered

International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda told Parliament Monday that she was the person who directed that a recommendation from her staff be altered to deny funding to a church-backed aid group.

The minister was backtracking on previous statements in which she said Kairos had lost its funding because the group's work no longer fit with the Canadian International Development Agency's objectives — suggesting she was acting on her department's recommendation.

The agency had recommended that Kairos should get $7 million, and the fact the document was "doctored" — a "not" was inserted to change its meaning — drew a strong rebuke from Speaker Peter Milliken. Oda's reversal came just before the House foreign affairs committee voted to find the matter a point of privilege. It is writing a report on Oda's earlier testimony, will discuss it Wednesday, and then send to the House.

"I wish to clearly inform the House of the matter and clear up any misunderstanding that exists," Oda said Monday. "… The 'not' was inserted at my direction."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2011/02/14/oda-kairos-021411.html
Monday, February 14, 2011 | 7:08 PM ET

[shockedcanadian]

2. Pretty obvious what the response has to be...

If Harper is going to fire Guergis for association to her husband and launch a full RCMP investigation into her (which cleared her name), than this lady had to be immediately relieved of her duties and there will be alot more scrutiny of government decisions moving forward.

This bombshell of lies and deceit of the public comes at a bad time for his party. B

[Very_Boring_Name]

3. Oda's days are numbered. Harper never backs up his ministers if it starts to hurt him politically

[tuvor]

5. Globe and Mail: Amid cries of contempt, Harper backs Oda

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/amid-cries-of-contempt-harper-backs-oda/article1908960/

[Very_Boring_Name]

7. He always starts off by backing them up

Ambrose, Bernier, Gordon, Guergis. He has to make a token gesture of defense, but he always drops them in the end. Her days are numbered, mark my words.

[CHIMO]

4. TIMELINE: Oda and the Kairos funding

Sept. 25 2009: Naresh Singh, assistant vice-president of the Canadian Partnership Branch of CIDA, signs a document recommending Kairos receive $7,098,758.

Sept. 28, 2009: Margaret Biggs, president of CIDA, signs the document recommending the funding.

Nov. 27, 2009: Oda signs the document. Kairos learns its funding has been cut. Documents show CIDA signed off on the funding, only for the decision to be reversed by a handwritten "not" added to the note.

Dec. 16, 2009: Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney tells an Israeli audience the Kairos cuts were part of his government's efforts to crack down on anti-Semitic groups. He said the organization lost its CIDA funding because it took a leadership role in the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel.

Aid groups expressed shock at the assertion, prompting Kenney to state that, in fact, Oda ended Kairos's funding because it didn't meet CIDA priorities.

http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/02/15/kairos-timeline.html
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 | 4:05 PM ET

Full time line to Feb. 15, 2011 in the article.

[alp227]

6. and i thought that American politics was crazy!

Gee, I was listening to CBC Radio One today and heard this story...pretty mild compared to what George W. Bush and his cronies did to America (lies about Iraq WMDs etc.)

[JBoy]

8. You can tell what the Globe thinks of Oda - check out today's picture:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/bev-oda-has-to-go-ignatieff-says/article1910111/

[CHIMO]

9. Oh - What A Tangled Web

Aide stamped Oda’s signature on KAIROS document

OTTAWA—International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda was out of town when her office handled the KAIROS funding memo, leaving an aide to stamp it with her signature and write “not” on it to reverse the advice of bureaucrats, the Conservative government says.

Fighting back against opposition allegations that Oda “doctored” the memo, government officials are supplying new details that portray the handling of the now controversial funding recommendation as routine and a simple use of ministerial powers.

In a briefing note distributed to Conservative MPs over the weekend, they said, “Hundreds of these internal memos cross ministers’ desks every day.”

“This is how elected officials transmit their decisions to the public service in our system of government,” they said. “The Minister had reviewed the memo, made her decision not to approve the funding application, and asked her staff to follow through on it.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/942229--aide-stamped-oda-s-signature-on-kairos-document?bn=1

An aid. Writes in a "NOT", without dating and indicating that it is someone other than Oda signing on her behalf. Pure garbage. Things keep getting more unreal.
And Oda doesn't know who forged her document. This whole government is out of control.