In an unusual step, when the Conservative government created the medal in 2011, it designated more than 200 non-governmental “partner organizations” as nominators. Canadian senators and Members of Parliament like Vellacott were also given 30 medals to award to anyone they see fit. They are supposed to submit their nomination lists to the Governor General’s Chancellery of Honours at Rideau Hall for vetting, then are sent the medals to hand out themselves.
Rideau Hall says it won’t provide a full list of recipients until the program concludes on February 28. But it is uncertain if the list it eventually publishes will match the name of the recipient to the nominee. This is an important point when you consider that groups with political interests such as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation are among the partner organizations, and that there have been some nakedly political nominations. Conservative Party campaign manager Jenni Byrne, for example, received one of the medals, but we don’t know who nominated her.
Given the Vellacott example, I wanted to know who MPs were nominating. On Monday, I sent a bulk email to all 305 MPs asking for their lists. This seems like a fair request. The process of awarding medals that honouring the Queen’s 60 years on the throne shouldn’t be secretive.
Some MPs (20) responded by providing me their lists. Most of these were backbench Conservative MPs. Many other MPs (26) said they hadn’t finished handing out the medals. A few, including NDP MP Peter Julian, said the information was “confidential.” But the bulk of the MPs (235 of 305) simply ignored my email.
As the responses trickled in by email on Monday, something changed around 3 pm in the afternoon. Suddenly, all the responses from Conservative MPs echoed the same message — the list would be published by Rideau Hall in February. Looks like someone in PMO heard about my email query and sent out the talking point. By this morning, 17 Conservative MPs had repeated the same message.
My thanks, then, to those MPs who did agree to provide their lists. I’ll continue to update this page as I get more names.
The vast majority of these nominees seem entirely deserving, based on the descriptions provided by the nominating MPs. But if you see anything dubious, please let me know.
First, those who didn’t give their lists and the reasons why…
DIANE ABLONCZY, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
HAROLD ALBRECHT, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
CHRIS ALEXANDER, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
DAVID ANDERSON – Staff said it would be brought to Mr. Anderson’s attention. No further response.
JOHN BAIRD, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
JOYCE BATEMAN, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
MAURIL BELANDER, LIB – Form letter response to email contact.
FRANCOISE BOIVIN, NDP – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
RAY BOUGHEN, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
SEAN CASEY, LIB - Medal nominations or awards not completed.
ANDREW CASH, NDP – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
RYAN CLEARY, NDP – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
IRWIN COTLER, LIB – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
LIBBY DAVIES, NDP – Form letter response to email contact.
DEAN DEL MASTRO, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
DIANE FINLEY, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
JIM FLAHERTY, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
STEVEN FLETCHER, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
ROYAL GALIPEAU, CPC - Medal nominations or awards not completed.
PETER GOLDRING IND – Will respond when he is back in the country.
CHERYL GALLANT, CPC – Form letter response to email contact.
RALPH GOODALE, LIB – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
BAL GOSAL, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
CLAUDE GRAVELLE, NDP – Did not nominate anyone.
DAN HARRIS, NDP – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
BRUCE HYER IND – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
PETER JULIAN, NDP – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
GERALD KEDDY, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
JASON KENNEY, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
GUY LAUZON, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
DENIS LEBEL, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
MEGAN LESLIE, NDP – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
BEN LOBB, NDP – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
CATHY MCLEOD,, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
TED MENZIES, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
LARRY MILLER, CPC - – Claimed confidentiality.
JOYCE MURRAY, LIB – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
JAMIE NICHOLLS, NDP – Form letter response to email contact.
ROB NICHOLSON, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
MASSIMO PACETTI, LIB – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
CHRISTIAN PARADIS, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
PETER PENASHUE, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
JOE PRESTON, CPC - Did not respond (sent form response to email)
BRENT RATHGEBER, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
BLAKE RICHARDS, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
GARY SCHELLENBERGER, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
CRAIG SCOTT, NDP – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
PETER STOFFER, NDP – Referred inquiry to printed edition of his householder.
DAVID TILSON, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
LAWRENCE TOET, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
TIM UPPAL, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
BERNARD VALCOURT, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
CHRIS WARKENTIN, CPC – Medal nominations or awards not completed.
LYNNE YELICH, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
TERRENCE YOUNG, CPC – Referred inquiry to Rideau Hall.
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Glen McGregor
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