Mario Dion

Canada’s integrity commissioner: in full pursuit of the inconsequential

Topics: 
PSIC, Health Canada, Pharmaceutical industry, Regulatory oversight, Mario Dion
Rating: 
5

David Hutton – April 23, 2012

This is the story of how Canadian authorities suck up to a powerful industry that has a track record of bad behaviour, how public servants who get in the way are punished, and how the watchdog that’s supposed to investigate suspected wrongdoing is turning a blind eye.

Canada’s Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion, who is responsible for protecting government whistleblowers and investigating their allegations of wrongdoing, recently referred his third case to the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal created to examine alleged reprisals against whistleblowers.

Integrity Commissioner Dion refers a government whistleblower to the Tribunal

Topics: 
Whistleblowers, Integrity Commissioner, Mario Dion
Rating: 
0
Mario Dion

Paul Gaboury – April 4, 2012

The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, Mario Dion, yesterday asked the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal to intervene in the case of Dr. Gerard Lambert, who was fired for insubordination in 2004 by Health Canada, along with scientists Shiv Chopra and Margaret Haydon. This is only the third case referred to the Tribunal since its inception in 2007.

Commissioner Dion stated that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the department had terminated Lambert's interim appointment in retaliation -- because he had made a protected disclosure of wrongdoing. He said he will ask the Tribunal to order remedies for Lambert.

The Integrity Commissioner Lacks ... Well, Integrity

Topics: 
PSIC, Watchdogs, Mario Dion
Rating: 
4

Peter Worthington – March 17, 2012

Compared to the last Integrity Commissioner (who was also the first one for Canada), the present commissioner is Diogenes with a lamp, rooting out corruption in High Places. Even so, he's pretty reluctant to nail -- or even identify -- bad guys.

Christiane Ouimet stepped down from the job in 2010 when Sheila Fraser was Auditor-General, and investigated her office and found that of 228 complaints filed in three years, only seven had been investigated, and no wrongdoing was ever found.

Bureaucrat’s ‘gross mismanagement’ revealed in PSIC report

Topics: 
PSIC, Harassment, Corruption, Mario Dion
Rating: 
4

Sonya Bell – March 8, 2012

Christiane Ouimet’s old office has finally found a public servant whose wrongdoing rivals that committed by its own former commissioner.

A “bully” and an “autocrat” who used federal funds to buy two flatscreen televisions for her home, several $80 water bottles from her private business, and a massage chair that ended up in the men’s washroom has landed an unsavory distinction: being the first person fingered by the Public Sector Integrity Commission for wrongdoing.

Public sector integrity czar finds wrongdoing, HRSDC refers case to RCMP

Topics: 
PSIC, Mario Dion
Rating: 
0

Jessica Bruno – March 12, 2012

The results of an investigation by Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion into a former Human Resources Development manager who misused public funds and forged another employee’s signature—among a laundry list of other abuses—has been handed over to the RCMP.

“The file was referred to the RCMP in December 2011 for thorough investigation. We also look forward to further parliamentary oversight on the matter,” said Alyson Queen, director of communications to HRSDC Minister Diane Finley (Haldimand-Norfolk, Ont.) told The Hill Times in an email.

Time to crack down on gross government waste

Topics: 
Watchdogs, Mario Dion
Rating: 
0
Mario Dion

Lorne Gunter – March 9, 2012

Every year for the past 14, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has handed out Teddy awards to the worst examples of wasteful spending by federal, provincial and municipal governments.

This year, they also gave a lifetime achievement award to former Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe because of his decades-long commitment to outrageous federal spending and because he has managed to earn a federal pension of nearly $141,000 a year, despite having spent his career trying to break up the country.

'Bully' bureaucrat outed for violating government standards

Topics: 
PSIC, Corruption, Mario Dion
Rating: 
0

Jordan Press – March 8, 2012

A civil servant who was described as an "autocrat" has been found guilty of "gross mismanagement" by appointing a close friend to a vacant position and billing taxpayers for, among other things, personal massages and flat-screen televisions that were never used.

The Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) manager, who is no longer with the department, violated federal laws by purchasing massage chairs and massage magnets, expensing both as "office supplies," the public-sector integrity commissioner said Thursday, even leaving one of those chairs in a men's bathroom at a satellite office.

Federal public sector integrity commissioner finally finds wrongdoing

Topics: 
PSIC, Corruption, Mario Dion
Rating: 
4

Richard J. Brennan – March 8, 2012

After five years and more than 400 complaints, the federal Public Sector Integrity Commission has finally found wrongdoing.

Mario Dion, the office’s commissioner, tabled a report before the House of Commons and Senate on Thursday stating that a regional manager at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada committed serious wrongdoing under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, including misuse of public funds, public assets and gross mismanagement.

Gov't manager charged massages as office supplies, took TVs home

Topics: 
PSIC, Corruption, Mario Dion
Rating: 
0

Canadian Press – March 8, 2012

A federal public servant charged massages as office supplies, put in for bogus expenses, took home flat-screen TVs paid for with office funds and used a government car as a personal vehicle, all while bullying and browbeating underlings.

These are among the findings of a damning report tabled Thursday by Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion.The case involves a western regional manager in Human Resources and Skills Development who is not otherwise identified.

Whistleblower watchdog's first find: government employee misused funds

Topics: 
PSIC, Corruption, Audio, Mario Dion
Rating: 
5

CBC News – March 8, 2012

The federal integrity commissioner has found that a Service Canada manager in Manitoba misused public funds and assets.

Mario Dion's report into the wrongdoings, which was released Thursday in Ottawa, finds that the manager sold items from her her personal fitness business to the federal government — including water bottles priced at $80 each.

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