Yah, That's showing Her, er, um...

Senior Mountie found in contempt of Parliament
Jack Aubry, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, April 10, 2008

OTTAWA - The RCMP's deputy commissioner, who has been found in contempt of Parliament, will not face any penalties such as jail time or financial fines, even though MPs believe she deliberately misled a parliamentary committee, the chairman of the all-party public accounts committee says.

Liberal MP Shawn Murphy, who received unanimous support Thursday from the House of Commons for a motion of concurrence on a recent committee report that found George in contempt, said MPs are satisfied with the "public rebuke" of the high-level officer even though harsher penalties are allowed under the legislature's arcane rules.

"It is now up to the commissioner to decide how to deal with the matter. We didn't want to over-dramatize it but we did want to send a message that this was not acceptable," said Murphy.

RCMP's deputy commissioner, Barbara George.

The parliamentary procedure began in February when the 12-member public accounts committee voted unanimously to recommend George be cited for contempt, asserting she deliberately misled MPs. The committee members had taken issue with George's testimony, in which she told MPs with "absolute finality" she did not have "anything whatsoever to do" with allegations a Mountie investigating the misappropriation of RCMP pension funds was removed from the file.

George was given the opportunity to explain during a two-hour appearance before the committee in December after e-mails and other testimony later contradicted her. George, however, has vehemently denied she misled the committee.

In line with the committee's recommendations, Murphy's motion stated: "no further action" should be taken against George since being found in contempt by the House of Commons "is in itself a very serious sanction."

Meanwhile, in a statement released shortly after the motion was passed, the RCMP said it was aware of the motion and "takes this very seriously." Noting the contempt finding is "unprecedented in recent history," the force said it is considering the matter "to determine any appropriate action on the part of the RCMP."

An RCMP spokesperson said the force did not expect to make any further statements on the matter on Thursday.

MPs have commented George's mistake was in her refusal to apologize once the committee had ruled.

George is currently on leave but is still an RCMP_employee.

Involving mismanagement, nepotism, questionable expense claims and contracts, the RCMP_pension scandal has tarnished the reputation of the police force ever since the story broke in 2003. A federal investigation concluded last year that former RCMP_Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli harmed the public trust by allowing the controversy to drag out over the years.

Zaccardelli denied there was any cover-up while George was the only senior Mountie suspended in connection with the scandal.

The 200 edition of "House of Commons Procedure and Practice", as edited by Robert Marleau and Camille Montpetit, said the "Canadian approach" to such contempt cases features a "reluctance to invoke the House's authority to reprimand, admonish or imprison anyone found to have trampled its dignity or authority."

The book said there have been "very few cases" in Canadian practice where the House has recommended a punishment.


© Canwest News Service 2008
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Yet another high level bureaucrat who gets off "scot free" from any meaningful consequences, what a message it sends, we told her... and everyone else that pesky little things like ethics, policies and procedures and speaking to the Parliament of your country don’t mean a thing to those of us who are “above” anyone else. Or, is she the mark for someone else? Hmmm. In any event, this is all just foolish. Now I wonder what happened to people who stepped up & blew the whistle, Mr. Lewis being the primary? Oh yah, one got FIRED. Isn’t there something really wrong with this picture? Oh and by the way, what exactly was done with the RCMP pension plan? If it was the rest of us, we’d be out the door, but not in our fair Canada, she’s back. So I guess a a case couldn't be made so … back to the trenches. Or, just took her lumps for brass like a good girl, or to make life easier.
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The Commons public accounts committee is holding an emergency in-camera session today after testimony yesterday on Parliament Hill about corruption, cronyism and cover-ups at the force’s highest levels concerning the RCMP pension plan.
Five RCMP officers and a whistle-blower who lost her job accused the force’s senior management, led by former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli, of corruption, and of derailing an investigation into the misappropriation of funds from the Mounties’ pension plan. One MP, Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj, said in an interview that the Liberals will be calling for a public inquiry into the allegations.
Last night, officials said the Mounties’ acting commissioner, Beverley Busson, announced deputy commissioner Barbara George had stepped down as head of RCMP human resources, as well as the senior executive committee. At the same time, an RCMP deputy commissioner has resigned her post as head of the forces’ human resources department.

http://totalrecoil.wordpress.com/category/rcmp/

Boohoo. Can you hear my violin.

Mountie felt ‘condemned’ before hearings

Jessica Leeder, Ottawa (Globe and Mail) - A high-ranking Mountie who could be cited for contempt of Parliament says she has been misunderstood by a parliamentary committee that has been misled by RCMP whistleblowers.
Deputy Commissioner Barbara George testified under oath before the House of Commons public accounts committee three times last year in an effort to counter allegations she tried to block an investigator looking into the force’s pension scandal from probing her department and exploring whether she herself was involved.
Ms. George said once she learned of the close relationship between the Mounties who blew the whistle and committee members (Staff Sergeant Ron Lewis, for example, told The Globe and Mail he wrote the questions Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj used to grill Ms. George at committee hearings) she began to feel attempts to clear her name at subsequent hearings would be futile.