Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Ottawa mum on ACOA official’s salary, expenses

MacAdam’s appointment revoked after investigation

OTTAWA — A former aide to Defence Minister Peter MacKay may still be receiving his six-figure government salary while taking French lessons, despite having his appointment revoked.

Kevin MacAdam is asking Canada’s federal court to save his job after an investigation by the Public Service Commission of Canada revoked his appointment as director of Prince Edward Island operations for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

The commission found four senior ACOA executives, including the current and former president of the agency, acted improperly in appointing MacAdam.

MacAdam was a senior adviser to MacKay while he was minister of ACOA. He is also a failed Conservative candidate and former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister in P.E.I.

He won the ACOA job in late 2010 but has not yet reported for duty.

MacAdam could not speak French. While bilingualism was not listed as a criteria for the job, it was considered necessary by ACOA. So MacAdam began two years of French training in Ottawa while drawing his annual salary of up to $135,800.

The government would not say Monday whether MacAdam is still drawing his salary and living expenses.

“This is a matter that is before the courts,” said South Shore-St. Margarets MP Gerald Keddy, the parliamentary secretary for ACOA.

Keddy was responding to a question from Gerry Byrne, Liberal MP for the Newfoundland riding of Humber-St.

Barbe-Baie Verte.

The commission was investigating five counts of improper conduct and six counts of political interference. It ultimately found no cases of political interference, which Keddy highlighted Monday.

“Public court records state that the commission found problems with the way the public service ran its hiring process,” said Keddy. “It did not find any political interference by ministers or political staff.”

Details of the investigation remain fuzzy because the results have not been made public by the commission. Instead, the results were revealed in a court filing from MacAdam, who is asking the federal court to reverse the decision and let him keep his job.

MacAdam’s court filing does not say whether he has been let go by ACOA, but it asks the court to let him keep his job until a judicial review is complete.

“We’re pretty confident that he’s still on the payroll,” said Byrne in an interview Monday. “We don’t know for sure, but that appears to be the case.”

Byrne said he accepts there could be a legal case for keeping MacAdam on staff until the court issue is resolved. But he says it’s unacceptable to still provide MacAdam discretionary benefits like French training and a travel allowance.

Byrne said it is incumbent on the government to disclose what payments MacAdam is receiving.

“It’s not like they weren’t prepared for today’s question. I’m sure they were; they chose not to answer it,” said Byrne.

A spokesman for ACOA Minister Bernard Valcourt repeated Keddy’s statement and deferred to the agency because the MacAdam case is “not a political issue.”

An agency spokesperson could not be reached for comment Monday.

Original Article
Source: the chronicle herald
Author: PAUL McLEOD

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