Integrity Commissioner

Disgraced bureaucrat Christiane Ouimet getting $400,000 in severance

Topics: 
Integrity Commissioner, Privy Council Office (PCO), Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
0

Amy Minsky – March 3, 2011

OTTAWA — The federal government is paying $400,000 in severance to Christiane Ouimet, the disgraced former public-sector integrity commissioner who resigned in haste last fall, Postmedia News has learned.

The sum is based on a calculation of a year-and-a-half of Ouimet's salary and benefits. She also qualifies for her pension.

Watchdogs to MPs: Do more homework on government hiring

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Appointments process
Rating: 
0

Jennifer Ditchburn – March 3, 2011

OTTAWA - Parliament's independent officers are advising MPs to more carefully vet appointments to watchdog roles in the wake of former public sector integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet's spectacular flame-out.

Seven independent agents of Parliament, including the auditor general and chief electoral officer, have sent a joint letter to five Commons committees urging them to learn lessons from the Ouimet fiasco.

Critics say trio of appointed watchdogs are ineffective

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner
Rating: 
4

Commissioners for lobbying and ethics under fire, along with Ouimet, for weak enforcement and non-performance

Barbara Yaffe – March 2, 2011

Controversy inspired by discredited public integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet is laying bare a broader problem with Ottawa's network of highly paid commissioners.

Critics say a trio of public sector watchdogs – the now retired integrity commissioner, lobbying commissioner Karen Shepherd and ethics commissioner Mary Dawson – all have been ineffective.

Documents suggest integrity watchdog too close with top civil servants, ministers

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Privy Council Office (PCO), Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
4

Joan Bryden – March 1, 2011

The watchdog created to independently investigate allegations of wrongdoing within government appears to have a cosy relationship with top bureaucrats and cabinet ministers.

Letters and emails obtained by The Canadian Press show former public sector integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet sought a meeting with Treasury Board President Stockwell Day and did meet with his predecessor, Vic Toews.

Protecting whistleblowers – for real this time...

Topics: 
David Hutton, Integrity Commissioner, PSDPA, Legislation, Audio
Rating: 
4
"All in a day" host Alan Neal interviews David Hutton

February 24, 2011

Alan Neal, host of CBC Radio "All In A Day"  interviews David Hutton about the role that flawed legislation played in the recent collapse of the government's system for protecting government whistleblowers.

Hutton's whistleblower protection organization recently published a detailed analysis of the law that former Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet administered, and called for the law to be overhauled as a matter of urgency.

David Hutton’s remarks at media conference

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, PSDPA
Rating: 
0

February 24, 2011

Research consistently shows that information from honest employees is the most effective single means of exposing fraud, and that’s why whistleblower protection must be at the centre of any government program of transparency and accountability.

But following Sheila Fraser’s investigation into the former integrity commissioner’s conduct, the credibility of the government’s whistleblower protection system is in tatters.

Former integrity commissioner swept aside disclosures of wrongdoing

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
0

Lawrence Martin – February 23, 2011

Canada’s former integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet routinely swept aside serious disclosures of alleged wrongdoing by claiming that she lacked the jurisdiction to pursue them, according to a registry of the cases obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The caseload brought before Ms. Ouimet, who took early retirement last year before the Auditor-General concluded she was not properly performing her functions, suggest that some of the cases, if pursued, may have brought embarrassment to the government.

Combatting a culture of impunity in Ottawa, clean up government

Topics: 
Integrity Commissioner, Government ethics
Rating: 
4

The handling of Christiane Ouimet's case is a bellwether for future efforts to clean up government and to crack down on misconduct that undermines the public's trust in our democratic institutions.

David Hutton – February 21, 2011

Thanks to Auditor General Sheila Fraser and her painstaking investigation into Christiane Ouimet's conduct, it's now well understood what the former integrity commissioner was doing during her three-year tenure. Regrettably, the picture that has emerged is a disturbing one.

According to the AG, Ouimet was an autocratic manager, berating and intimidating her staff to the point where 18 out of 22 left in one twelve-month period. She also conducted a campaign of reprisals against a former staff member who she suspected (incorrectly) of complaining about her.

Public Accounts Committee negotiating on timing of former integrity czar Ouimet’s testimony

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Public Accounts Committee, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
4

Liberal MP Navdeep Bains says MPs ‘don’t want to negotiate with lawyers,’ but are.

Jessica Bruno – February 21, 2011

The House Public Accounts Committee will hear from Canada’s former public sector integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet who will finally testify and tell her side of the story after being incommunicado for nearly two months.

But some MPs say they’re riled that the committee has to negotiate with a third party for access to Ms. Ouimet. “We don’t want to negotiate with lawyers first of all, I made that very clear,” Liberal committee member Navdeep Bains (Mississauga-Brampton South, Ont.) told last week. “We want to summons her. … We’ve been working on this for quite some time so our goal has been sooner rather than later.”

Former integrity watchdog in Florida

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
0

Amy Minsky – February 16, 2011

The disgraced and "evasive" former public-sector integrity commissioner is in Florida and has contacted a lawyer, a parliamentary committee heard Tuesday.

Still, members of the committee found their hands likely will remain bound -- unable either to hear Christiane Ouimet testify or to hold her in contempt of Parliament -- until she formally acknowledges receipt of a subpoena to appear and to testify.

Pages

Subscribe to Integrity Commissioner