He wanted an apology, eh? We sure must be stupid:
Ethics rest squarely on PM's shoulders: briefing paper
Eric Beauchesne
Southam News
OTTAWA - The prime minister has "sole authority" for setting standards of conduct for his government and then for deciding if they have been breached, an internal federal briefing document shows.
The document reinforces opposition charges that Howard Wilson, the Ethics Counsellor, who is appointed by and reports to Mr. Chrétien, lacks the authority or independence to investigate alleged breaches by a prime minister.
The document, prepared by the Privy Council Office for the Prime Minister and deputy Prime Minister, says: "The prime minister is accountable to the House for all decisions in this area ... He [the prime minister] recommends the appointment of ministers and other senior officials to the governor general, and thus has the sole authority to set standards of conduct, consider possible breaches of those standards, and where necessary, take appropriate action."
The Privy Council Office is the branch of the civil service that serves the federal Cabinet.
Its briefing document also suggests that in the eyes of the Prime Minister's advisors, the ethics counsellor acts purely in an advisory capacity.
"The ethics counsellor advises the prime minister on the overall policies and on particular cases, but in the end it is the prime minister who is responsible for the consequences of any breach of these guidelines," states the document, obtained by Access to Information researcher Ken Rubin.
"The ultimate responsibility for the ethical conduct of the government rests with the prime minister," it says.
Earlier this week, Mr. Wilson declined to mount an investigation into circumstances surrounding Mr. Chrétien's lobbying of the head of a federal bank to approve a loan to acquaintance and constituent Yvon Duhaime.
In 1993, Mr. Duhaime bought the Auberge Grand-Mère from Mr. Chrétien and others.
The controversy over Mr. Chrétien's involvement in the $615,000 loan to Mr. Duhaime for the hotel's expansion has become a key issue in the final week of the election campaign and has shaken the Liberals' hopes of a majority government.
The two-page document on the ethics counsellor's "reporting relationship" with the prime minister was produced for Mr. Chrétien when the issue of his involvement in the Federal Business Development Bank's loan to the hotel was raised two years ago.
Earlier this week, Mr. Wilson ruled that Mr. Chrétien never broke any rules by lobbying the head of the Federal Business Development Bank on behalf of Mr. Duhaime, a convicted criminal, because there are no rules governing a Minister's relations with a Crown corporation.
Mr. Chrétien claimed that the decision, which acknowledged there were no rules governing this kind of conduct, "unequivocally clears" his name.
Until the recent revelations in the National Post of the telephone calls to the head of the bank, a government appointee, the Prime Minister had maintained his relationship with the bank had been "arm's length."
After the calls from Mr. Chrétien, the bank, which had initially rejected the loan application as a bad credit risk, later approved it.
The loan subsequently went into arrears.
Two years ago, Mr. Wilson, responding to a question following a speech to the Australian Senate, admitted that he would not be able to enforce a code of conduct on an unethical prime minister.
"Then Canada's got a very serious problem, which would not just be in this area," Mr. Wilson said.
"There is no doubt that this system only works if it has the strong, unequivocal support of the prime minister."
One of the country's most respected post-war public servants, Gordon Robertson, this week warned that a minority government is the only hope that Canadians have of controlling the considerable power of the Prime Minister and his office.
"The concentration of power in the hands of the Prime Minister is intense and really unhealthy and we have that at the present time," said Mr. Robertson, former head of the Privy Council Office, who was a senior official under four former prime ministers.
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