Three Revealing Paras On Ethics from Treasury Board

"Evasion and deception of the testimony of many senior military officers", "politicians named and blamed public servants in public and argued over the correct meaning and application of the convention of ministerial responsibility" Hmm, plus ça change?: "Other notable values and ethics challenges of this period included three scandals in which both politicians and public servants were implicated. The first of these scandals—the 1991 Al-Mashat affair—involved allegations that federal officials had expedited the granting of landed immigrant status to Mohammed Al-Mashat, who had been Iraq’s ambassador to the United States and that country’s spokesperson during the Gulf War. During the inquiry into this affair, politicians named and blamed public servants in public and argued over the correct meaning and application of the convention of ministerial responsibility. The affair had an adverse impact on the convention of public service anonymity that had begun to decline for other reasons, including increased emphasis on service to the public and heightened media coverage of the public service.

A second scandal involved an ill-fated Canadian military mission to Somalia in 1993 that included the killing of a Somali youth. A commission of inquiry, appointed by a new Liberal Government in 1995, complained in its 1997 report(40) that the disgrace of the original events had been exacerbated by the "evasion and deception" of the testimony of many senior military officers. The Commission noted also that the government’s "decision to end the Inquiry prematurely in itself raises new questions concerning responsibility and accountability."(41)

The third scandal revolved around a 1993 commission of inquiry(42) into the infection of several thousand Canadians by tainted blood. Monique Bégin, who had been federal health minister at the time of the infections, offered to appear before the commission as "a matter of personal morality and integrity" and in recognition of ministerial responsibility as "the cornerstone of our executive government."(43) Yet, on the same day, General Jean Boyle, the Chief of Canada’s Defence Staff, declined to take any responsibility for the questionable conduct of the Department of National Defence in connection with the Somalia events and suggested that some of his department’s senior officers lacked integrity and moral fibre.(44)"