BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
A local political science professor says he has mixed feelings about Justice John Gomery?s second report on the sponsorship scandal.
Bob Segsworth, who teaches a course on the Canadian public service at Laurentian University, liked what the justice had to say about bringing integrity back to government.
However, he thinks the report places too much emphasis on rules designed to take power away from senior politicians.
Some of Gomery?s recommendations include increasing funding for parliamentary committees, changing the way deputy ministers are hired, making deputy ministers more accountable for wrongdoings in their departments and preventing political staff in cabinet ministers? offices from giving orders to civil servants.
In the last 25 years, numerous political watchdog agencies and accountability rules have been created, but they haven?t really done anything to reduce corrupt behaviour, says Segsworth.
?The reality is that the auditor general is more powerful than ever before, we have ethics commissioners and we have privacy commissioners,? he says. ?It doesn?t seem to have been particularly effective.?
Politicians can follow a checklist of rules and say they haven?t done anything wrong, says Segsworth. Even if $1 million is missing, they still aren?t responsible if they?ve followed the rules.
The most important thing Gomery said didn?t have anything to do with any specific recommendations, says the professor.
?I think what was really important was Gomery?s idea that we create a culture of integrity in the public sector from the politicians down through to
the public servants.?
Political integrity has got to start at the top, says Segsworth.
?When was the last time you saw a minister resign for a screw-up in his or her department or because a policy didn?t work?? he asks.
Prime Minister designate Stephen Harper has obviously bought into the idea that we need more rules, Segsworth says.
Harper welcomed Gomery?s report, saying that he will bring in a new Federal Accountability Act, which has proposals that are similar to the justice?s recommendations.
Sudbury MP Diane Marleau, who was reached in Ottawa, says there were a lot of good things in the report.
?I think a lot of the things that he?s recommending have already been implemented, and I think that?s good,? she says.
?But as for the rest of it, we?ll have to see what happens with the new government. We?ll see how they follow through with the recommendations.?
Marleau says it?s about time somebody pushed for more funding for parliamentary committees. As it is, they can?t always afford to hire the expertise they need.
The MP questions why deputy ministers are being targeted, although she doesn?t have a problem with them being hired through an open and competitive process.
When Marleau was a cabinet minister, she never experienced any problems with her deputy ministers.
?I?ve been there, and I?ve never seen it as something that?s not functioning,? she says.
?There obviously were some breakdowns, but for the most part I find that they?re quite non-partisan and they give their honest advice and run their
departments.?
