“It’s a black hole of accountability,” NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus told The Huffington Post Canada. “We’ve never really been able to get a clear picture of what these ministers’ regional offices actually do.”
An email obtained by The Huffington Post Canada shows a “caucus liaison” employee in Finance Minister Joe Oliver’s ministerial office in Toronto informing Conservative MPs of upcoming events in the Greater Toronto Area with Defence Minister Jason Kenney.
“Good afternoon GTA Caucus,” begins an email from Rachel Strong, the “regional communications advisor and GTA caucus liaison,” whose salary is paid for by taxpayers.
“Minister Kenney will be attending several events this weekend throughout the GTA. I am forwarding this information to you directly as an FYI. If you would like further information regarding these events, please feel free to contact me,” she wrote on April 23.
The email lists five events over the past weekend in ridings across Toronto, Scarborough and Richmond Hill. According to her LinkedIn profile, Strong used to work for the Ontario PC Party as the executive assistant to the director of tour and operations for then-leader Tim Hudak.
Stephanie Rea, spokeswoman for Treasury Board President Tony Clement, told HuffPost caucus liaison staff are there to act as a link for all parliamentarians.
“They are available to all MPs. If somebody [an opposition MP or staffer] has a question, they are perfectly able to contact a caucus liaison person,” Rea said.
Outreach to all regional MPs isn’t necessarily one of their job functions, she added. “Some [ministers] use their caucus liaison in a different manner.”
But GTA NDP and Liberal MPs contacted by HuffPost said they could not recall ever hearing from Strong or any other “caucus liaison” staffer.
“What’s that?” asked Mike Sullivan, NDP MP for York South–Weston.
He said he has never heard from a caucus liaison but knows of several instances when Conservative MPs and ministers have been present in his riding without his knowledge.
“The ones that I found out about in time, I would go to,” he said, “but there has never been a courtesy call saying, ‘Oh, by the way, we are going to come make an announcement.’ That just doesn’t happen.”
“Have I ever been contacted by the minister’s regional office? That would be a very clear no,” Liberal MP for St. Paul’s Carolyn Bennett said.
One would think, Bennett said, that the caucus liaison would communicate with all MPs, not just Tories.
“They seem to be a resource to Conservative members only.”
"I have racked my brain and spoken to my excellent staff, and we have no recollection of having been given any notice by this government,” Liberal MP for Toronto Centre Chrystia Freeland told HuffPost.
She said she was once invited to attend an event in her riding with Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre at the St. James Cathedral, but it was the cathedral that invited her.
Liberal MP for Scarborough–Guildwood John McKay said he was told shortly after the Conservatives came to power in 2006, that if he showed up at the opening of a waterfront trail, the event with Conservative minister Peter Van Loan would be cancelled. McKay said he had been working on the project for 10 years.
“I didn’t show up. I didn’t want to spoil the party for the folks who had worked hard,” McKay said.
Angus, who represents a riding in northern Ontario, said he has never heard of a caucus liaison being paid as ministerial staff. He questioned whether the ministers’ regional offices — which have ballooned in size and expense — are doing official government work or work promoting the Conservative Party of Canada.
There are currently 16 Ministers’ Regional Offices (MRO) across Canada — up from 11 in 2008. Most are in provincial capitals, although there is an office in Vancouver rather than Victoria. The Conservatives opened several MROs since 2009, including offices in Kitchener, Ont., Charlottetown, Iqaluit, Yellowknife, and Whitehorse. They also relocated an office from Moncton to Fredericton.
Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.ca/
Author: Althia Raj
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