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CBC "As It Happens": the Conservatives' record on whistleblower protection

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David Hutton
David Hutton

CBC Radio – May 17, 2012

Carol Off interviews David Hutton on the subject of Canada's federal whistleblower protection, the Conservative government's track record on this issue, and the now-overdue five-year review of the law.

Five years ago the government introduced legislation to protect public service employees who come forward with a complaint or a claim of wrongdoing. The law was billed as the “Mount Everest” of whistleblower protection. Well, now the mountain is in danger of becoming a molehill.

Canadian energy firm stays mum on bribery allegations

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Carrie Tait – May 15, 2012

Griffiths Energy International Inc., a company aspiring to go public but marred by an internal corruption investigation, has wrapped up its soul-searching mission.

But potential investors -- as well as existing private ones -- will find little comfort in a statement the company released Tuesday. Only three paragraphs of the 2,188-word (less boilerplate) press release are devoted to its bribery investigation.

Fatal Salmon Virus Outbreak in Clayoquot UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

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The Friends of Clayoquot Sound – May 17, 2012

Mainstream Canada, a Norwegian-owned company, has reported an outbreak of Infectious Haematopoietic Necrosis virus (IHN) on one of their open net-cage salmon farms in Clayoquot Sound.

The farm, one of 20 sites in the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, is located at the entrance to a provincial park that encompasses a fjord, the Megin River estuary, old-growth Sitka spruce forests and salmon spawning habitat.

Second legislative warrant to be issued for ORNGE founder

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Tanya Talaga – May 17, 2012

A second warrant will be issued to try to force ORNGE founder Dr. Chris Mazza to testify before the committee investigating the air ambulance scandal. And he isn’t the only one the legislative probe is recalling.

Former Liberal Party of Canada president Alfred Apps; Don Guy, the mastermind behind Premier Dalton McGuinty’s last four election campaigns; and Saad Rafi, the deputy health minister, will be asked to testify again.

Montreal corruption sweep arrests nine

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Frank Zampino

Peter Rakobowchuk – May 17, 2012

Police arrested nine people in a massive anti-corruption sweep that nabbed several former key members of Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay’s inner circle.

With Thursday’s dragnet, the corruption scandals that have rocked Quebec over the last four years have returned home to where they started: Montreal’s city hall.

Military ombudsman rebuts complaints of delays, dysfunction in his office

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Pierre Daigle

David Pugliese – May 18, 2012

Canada’s embattled military ombudsman says he welcomes the investigation into his office ordered by Defence Minister Peter MacKay after former and current employees complained the organization has become dysfunctional, with questions raised about travel expenses, sexist jokes and whether issues raised by soldiers were being dealt with properly.

Pierre Daigle, a retired major general, will not step aside as the assessment of his office is done and intends to continue on with his role as ombudsman.

Figure skating: more corrupt than ever?

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Boston Globe – May 20, 2012

In the Olympics, many events depend on subjective scoring from a panel of judges. But confidence in these scoring systems has been undermined by scandals, perhaps most infamously a 2002 pairs skating case in which a French judge “was reportedly pressured by some combination of her national federation and the Russian mafia to vote for a Russian pair in exchange for a Russian vote for a French couple in ice dancing.”

In response, the International Skating Union, the ISU, anonymized judges’ scores—on the theory that vote trading would then be harder to carry off—and developed an elaborate score-tabulation system. A new study from a professor of economics at Dartmouth, however, suggests this has all been for naught or, even worse, for show.

Now more than ever, stronger whistle-blower protection essential

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Tom Devine and Louis Clark – May 19, 2012

Most Washingtonians now know the appalling details surrounding the General Services Administration scandal in Las Vegas. But while hundreds of GSA employees attended the October 2010 conference, and more than $820,000 in federal money was misused, only recently has the news emerged.

Which brings up a pressing question: With a scandal of this size, where were the whistle-blowers? Notably, at least one courageous employee did come forward and work with GSA Inspector General Brian Miller on the investigation. But Miller hit the nail on the head when he explained at an April House committee hearing why so few employees blew the whistle: They would have been "squashed like a bug" for doing so.

Whistleblower accuses US medical firm of illegal marketing

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MassDevice – May 14, 2012

An unsealed whistleblower lawsuit accuses Medtronic of violating the Medicare False Claims Act through illegal marketing of its Infuse bone growth protein, alleging that the medical device maker installed a crony as editor of an influential spine journal to push positive data on the controversial compound.

A whistleblower accused Medtronic of installing a stooge, spinal surgeon Dr. Thomas Zdeblick, as editor of an influential spine journal to push positive – and possibly premature – data on its Infuse bone growth stimulant.

Toronto riding's election result tossed by judge

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CBC News – May 18, 2012

Conservative MP Ted Opitz's 2011 federal election win in Etobicoke Centre was declared null and void today in a challenge by former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

Opitz won the May 2011 election by 26 votes, but Wrzesnewskyj challenged the results over voting irregularities. The case required more than 26 votes be thrown out for it to be declared void.