Gomery Commission
Encyclopedia
The Gomery Commission, formally the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, was a federal
Canadian
Royal Commission
headed by the retired Justice John Gomery
for the purpose of investigating the sponsorship scandal
, which involved allegations of corruption
within the Canadian government
.
The Commission was called by then Canadian Prime Minister
Paul Martin
in February 2004 soon after a report by the Auditor General of Canada
found unexplainable irregularities in the Sponsorship Program. Justice Gomery released his Phase I Report on the scandal on November 1, 2005 and Phase II Report on February 1, 2006.
In 2008, Federal Court of Canada
Judge Max M. Teitelbaum
set aside Gomery's conclusion that Jean Chrétien
and Jean Pelletier
shared blame for the mismanagement of the program to boost the federal government's profile in Quebec. However, Justice Teitelbaum's decision has been appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal.
Commissioner Gomery was given a two part mandate with power issued to him under the Inquiries Act. The first part of the mandate was investigate and report on questions and concerns addressed in the 2003 Report of the Auditor General of Canada relating to the sponsorship program and advertising activities of the Government of Canada. These concerns included the program’s creation, the selection of agencies, the program’s management and activities, the receiving and use of funds and disbursement of commissions, and anything else that Gomery feels relevant.
The second part of the mandate was for Gomery to make any recommendations that he considers advisable, based on his findings. Specifically requested of Gomery were the following: to prevent mismanagement of sponsorship or advertising programs in the future, taking into account legislation to protect "whistleblowers"; to recommend changes to legislation to change the governance of Crown corporations to ensure that audit committees are strengthened, that public access to information is increased, that there is a consistent application of the provisions for each organization, that compliance and enforcement be enhanced, and finally that respective responsibilities and accountabilities of Ministers and public servants as recommended by the Auditor General of Canada.
, meeting in the Old City Hall
. The hearing opened in September 2004. The first to testify was Auditor General Sheila Fraser
who reported the findings of her earlier investigations. The first part of its investigation was of the political direction of the project. Most of the top officials involved were called to testify.
In an unprecedented event, the inquiry saw the testimony of two Prime Ministers in February 2005: Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien. The testimony of Chrétien was much anticipated. In December 2004, Chrétien's lawyers had moved to expel Justice Gomery due to comments he had made to a National Post
reporter that the lawyers argued showed that Gomery was biased against Chrétien. These included Gomery commenting that golf balls marked with Chrétien's name, which had been paid for by the sponsorship program, were "small town cheap." Gomery rejected the calls to recuse himself setting up a confrontation between him and Chrétien. At the end of his day of testimony Chrétien closed his statement by pulling out a series of golf balls bearing the name of American presidents and asking whether each of them was "small town cheap". The stunt was the focus of all the media reports.
After the prime ministers testified, the hearings moved to Montreal
to investigate where the money had gone. The hearings in Ottawa had uncovered little more than what was in the Auditor General's report. The AG did not have the authority to investigate outside of the government, and the look into the advertising companies in Montreal uncovered a great deal of new and explosive allegations. The most important of these were by Groupaction
executive Jean Brault who recounted a series of crimes committed to direct government money to Liberal party supporters. These caused a sharp fall in the support for the governing Liberals, and put their government in jeopardy.
but cleared them of direct involvement in kickback schemes. While people such as Alfonso Gagliano
, Chuck Guité and Jacques Corriveau
took advantage of the programme, Gomery argued that abuses would not have occurred had Chrétien set the programme with safeguards in place. Gomery said that Pelletier "failed to take the most elementary precautions against mismanagement – and Mr. Chrétien was responsible for him."
Gomery also exonerated Prime Minister Paul Martin, the minister of finance during most of the sponsorship programme. Gomery specifically said that Martin "is entitled, like other ministers from the Quebec caucus, to be exonerated from any blame for carelessness or misconduct", as the Department of Finance's role was not oversight, but setting the "fiscal framework".
The recommendations suggested include:
Shortly after Justice Gomery held a press conference, Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper
, elected on January 23, 2006, told the press that some of the Commission's recommendations matched his proposed first bill, the "Federal Accountability Act". Other recommendations went further than what Harper promised, while some other recommendations (dealing with the public service) would not be enacted in the short term.
, Warren Kinsella
, and former cabinet minister Sheila Copps
, criticized the commission as being little more than an extension of Liberal party
infighting
.
Gomery was accused by some as being friendly to Paul Martin, and hostile toward Chrétien, and Chrétien's lawyers attempted unsuccessfully to have Gomery removed due to his alleged bias. The two men had long represented a power struggle within the party. Subsequent to the release of the first report, Chrétien took action in Federal Court to review the commission report on the grounds that Gomery showed a "reasonable apprehension of bias", and that some conclusions didn't have an "evidentiary" basis.
Jean Chrétien's lawyers stated that Gomery has made many comments which indicate he had a bias going into the investigation such as comments Gomery made calling Chrétien "small town cheap", referring to the management of the sponsorship program as "catastrophically bad," and calling Chuck Guité, a "charming scamp".
Other allegations of bias concern the commission's chief counsel, Bernard Roy
, a former chief of staff to former Progressive Conservative
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
. Roy is also a partner in Mulroney's law firm where Gomery's daughter works. Chrétien's lawyers stated that the appointment is a conflict of interest
. Roy is a longtime personal friend of the former prime-minister's. Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien have had an adversarial personal relationship in recent years since the Airbus affair
. The choice of counsel may account for the failure to call some Chrétien friendly witnesses.
During spring 2005, Chrétien legal team made a request to have Gomery removed but it was denied.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper
was sympathetic to Chrétien's complaints of bias, stating that the main problem was that the commission's terms of reference did not allow it to investigate Paul Martin
's contracting habits as finance minister. Other criticisms concern the lack of powers the commission had to investigate criminal matters, which were being investigated by the RCMP.
Chrétien's lawyers have indicated they are concerned about conclusions which are not based on evidence, but mere extrapolation. Jean Chrétien, on the day the report was tabled in the House of Commons, objected to the findings of the Commission, commenting that Gomery believed the wrong witnesses. "Personally, I believe Jean Pelletier
, a man who dedicated his life to the service of his city, his province and his country," said the former Prime Minister, dismissing's Chuck Guité's testimony. Chrétien believes that Gomery's conclusion that the programme was run out of the prime minister's office is wrong.
On June 26, 2008, the Federal Court quashed the Gomery inquiry's conclusions that Chrétien and Pelletier bore responsibility for the sponsorship scandal. Justice Max Teitelbaum criticized Gomery for having a preoccupation with the media spotlight that led him to give interviews he should have eschewed, making comments that indicated he judged issues before all evidence was heard, exhibited bias against Mr. Chrétien, and trivialized the inquiry proceedings. For instance, Teitelbaum pointed out that Gomery's remark halfway through the hearings that "juicy stuff" was yet to come made it appear that evidence of wrongdoing was expected before it was heard. The federal judge also ruled that Gomery's comments on "small town cheap" amounted to a personal insult against Chrétien. The federal government was ordered to pay Chrétien's legal costs. Chrétien and his aides have described it as vindication. However, Justice Teitelbaum's decision is being appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal.
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
headed by the retired Justice John Gomery
John Gomery
John H. Gomery, BCL, BA, QC is a retired Canadian jurist. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Personal life:Gomery has a daughter, Cym Gomery, who is a partisan and candidate of municipal party Projet Montreal. Gomery is fluently bilingual, as is his daughter...
for the purpose of investigating the sponsorship scandal
Sponsorship scandal
The sponsorship scandal, "AdScam", "Sponsorship" or Sponsorgate, is a scandal that came as a result of a Canadian federal government "sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec and involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006...
, which involved allegations of corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
within the Canadian government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
.
The Commission was called by then Canadian Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
in February 2004 soon after a report by the Auditor General of Canada
Auditor General of Canada
The role of the Auditor General of Canada is to aid accountability by conducting independent audits of federal government operations. The Auditor General reports to the House of Commons, not to the government...
found unexplainable irregularities in the Sponsorship Program. Justice Gomery released his Phase I Report on the scandal on November 1, 2005 and Phase II Report on February 1, 2006.
In 2008, Federal Court of Canada
Federal Court of Canada
The Federal Court of Canada was a national court of Canada that heard some types of disputes arising under the central government's legislative jurisdiction...
Judge Max M. Teitelbaum
Max M. Teitelbaum
Max M. Teitelbaum is a judge currently serving on the Federal Court of Canada.-References:...
set aside Gomery's conclusion that Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
and Jean Pelletier
Jean Pelletier
Jean Pelletier, was a Canadian politician, who served as the 37th mayor of Quebec City, Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister's Office, and chairman of Via Rail...
shared blame for the mismanagement of the program to boost the federal government's profile in Quebec. However, Justice Teitelbaum's decision has been appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal.
Mandate
The Commission had a broader mandate, more power and greater resources than the Auditor General, and most importantly could look beyond government to the advertising agencies that had received the Sponsorship dollars. The terms of reference allowed the commissioner to question witnesses, hire experts and adopt any procedures or methods that he considers expedient for the proper conduct of the inquiry. The purpose given was to "investigate and report on questions raised, directly or indirectly" by the Auditor General's report. However, as is typically the case in commissions of inquiry, he was specifically directed not to make any conclusions or recommendations on criminal charges or civil liability.Commissioner Gomery was given a two part mandate with power issued to him under the Inquiries Act. The first part of the mandate was investigate and report on questions and concerns addressed in the 2003 Report of the Auditor General of Canada relating to the sponsorship program and advertising activities of the Government of Canada. These concerns included the program’s creation, the selection of agencies, the program’s management and activities, the receiving and use of funds and disbursement of commissions, and anything else that Gomery feels relevant.
The second part of the mandate was for Gomery to make any recommendations that he considers advisable, based on his findings. Specifically requested of Gomery were the following: to prevent mismanagement of sponsorship or advertising programs in the future, taking into account legislation to protect "whistleblowers"; to recommend changes to legislation to change the governance of Crown corporations to ensure that audit committees are strengthened, that public access to information is increased, that there is a consistent application of the provisions for each organization, that compliance and enforcement be enhanced, and finally that respective responsibilities and accountabilities of Ministers and public servants as recommended by the Auditor General of Canada.
Proceedings and testimonies
The Commission began in OttawaOttawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, meeting in the Old City Hall
Old City Hall (Ottawa)
The John G. Diefenbaker Building is a building in the New Edinburgh neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario. The building served as Ottawa's city hall from 1958 to 2000, and is commonly known as Old City Hall...
. The hearing opened in September 2004. The first to testify was Auditor General Sheila Fraser
Sheila Fraser
Sheila Fraser served as Auditor General of Canada from 2001 to 2011.Ms. Fraser was born in Dundee, Quebec, Canada. She earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University in 1972. She then became a chartered accountant in 1974 and FCA in 1994...
who reported the findings of her earlier investigations. The first part of its investigation was of the political direction of the project. Most of the top officials involved were called to testify.
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
reporter that the lawyers argued showed that Gomery was biased against Chrétien. These included Gomery commenting that golf balls marked with Chrétien's name, which had been paid for by the sponsorship program, were "small town cheap." Gomery rejected the calls to recuse himself setting up a confrontation between him and Chrétien. At the end of his day of testimony Chrétien closed his statement by pulling out a series of golf balls bearing the name of American presidents and asking whether each of them was "small town cheap". The stunt was the focus of all the media reports.
After the prime ministers testified, the hearings moved to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
to investigate where the money had gone. The hearings in Ottawa had uncovered little more than what was in the Auditor General's report. The AG did not have the authority to investigate outside of the government, and the look into the advertising companies in Montreal uncovered a great deal of new and explosive allegations. The most important of these were by Groupaction
Groupaction
Groupaction Inc. is a Canadian advertising agency at the centre of the 2004 Canadian sponsorship scandal. It was incorporated in 1983 as Groupaction Marketing Inc. and received its first federal advertising contract in 1994 with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ....
executive Jean Brault who recounted a series of crimes committed to direct government money to Liberal party supporters. These caused a sharp fall in the support for the governing Liberals, and put their government in jeopardy.
Phase I Report
On November 1, 2005, Gomery released the Phase I Report. Gomery criticized Chrétien and his chief of staff Jean PelletierJean Pelletier
Jean Pelletier, was a Canadian politician, who served as the 37th mayor of Quebec City, Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister's Office, and chairman of Via Rail...
but cleared them of direct involvement in kickback schemes. While people such as Alfonso Gagliano
Alfonso Gagliano
Alfonso Gagliano, PC, FCGA is a Canadian accountant and a former Liberal Party politician.Born in Siculiana, Italy, his political career began in 1977 when he ran for a seat on the Montreal school board. In the 1984 federal election, he ran for Parliament for Saint-Léonard—Anjou narrowly...
, Chuck Guité and Jacques Corriveau
Jacques Corriveau
Jacques Corriveau is a Quebec businessperson and owner of the graphic design firm Pluri Design Canada Inc. His close ties to the Liberal Party of Canada and his firm's involvement with the Sponsorship Program has put him and his firm at the center of the Sponsorship Scandal.Corriveau is known for...
took advantage of the programme, Gomery argued that abuses would not have occurred had Chrétien set the programme with safeguards in place. Gomery said that Pelletier "failed to take the most elementary precautions against mismanagement – and Mr. Chrétien was responsible for him."
Gomery also exonerated Prime Minister Paul Martin, the minister of finance during most of the sponsorship programme. Gomery specifically said that Martin "is entitled, like other ministers from the Quebec caucus, to be exonerated from any blame for carelessness or misconduct", as the Department of Finance's role was not oversight, but setting the "fiscal framework".
Phase II Report
On February 1, 2006, Gomery released his final report consisting mostly of recommendations for changes to the civil service and its relation to government.The recommendations suggested include:
- Moving more responsibility to Parliamentary committees
- Stiffer penalties for violation in public spending legislation
- De-politicize civil service and crown corporation appointments
- More transparency with allocation of reserve funds
- Ban on destruction of documents
Shortly after Justice Gomery held a press conference, Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
, elected on January 23, 2006, told the press that some of the Commission's recommendations matched his proposed first bill, the "Federal Accountability Act". Other recommendations went further than what Harper promised, while some other recommendations (dealing with the public service) would not be enacted in the short term.
Criticisms
Many commentators criticized the report for various reasons: alleged bias on the part of the commission, the terms of reference with which it was set up, and the use of evidence in the report. Several, including former Prime Minister Jean ChrétienJean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
, Warren Kinsella
Warren Kinsella
Warren James Douglas Kinsella , is a Toronto-based Canadian, lawyer, author, musician, political consultant, commentator, and blogger...
, and former cabinet minister Sheila Copps
Sheila Copps
Sheila Maureen Copps, PC is a former Canadian politician who also served as Deputy Prime Minister of Canada from November 4, 1993 to April 30, 1996 and June 19, 1996 to June 11, 1997....
, criticized the commission as being little more than an extension of Liberal party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
infighting
2004 Liberal Party of Canada infighting
The period between Paul Martin's assumption of the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada on November 14, 2003, and the 2004 federal election being called on May 23, 2004, saw a considerable amount of infighting within the party...
.
Gomery was accused by some as being friendly to Paul Martin, and hostile toward Chrétien, and Chrétien's lawyers attempted unsuccessfully to have Gomery removed due to his alleged bias. The two men had long represented a power struggle within the party. Subsequent to the release of the first report, Chrétien took action in Federal Court to review the commission report on the grounds that Gomery showed a "reasonable apprehension of bias", and that some conclusions didn't have an "evidentiary" basis.
Jean Chrétien's lawyers stated that Gomery has made many comments which indicate he had a bias going into the investigation such as comments Gomery made calling Chrétien "small town cheap", referring to the management of the sponsorship program as "catastrophically bad," and calling Chuck Guité, a "charming scamp".
Other allegations of bias concern the commission's chief counsel, Bernard Roy
Bernard Roy
Bernard Roy , is an emeritus professor at the Université Paris-Dauphine. In 1974 he founded the "Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Modélisation des Systèmes pour l'Aide à la Décision" . He has worked on graph theory and on multi-criteria decision analysis , having created the ELECTRE family of methods...
, a former chief of staff to former Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
. Roy is also a partner in Mulroney's law firm where Gomery's daughter works. Chrétien's lawyers stated that the appointment is a conflict of interest
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
. Roy is a longtime personal friend of the former prime-minister's. Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien have had an adversarial personal relationship in recent years since the Airbus affair
Airbus affair
The Airbus affair refers to allegations of secret commissions paid to members of the Government of Canada during the term of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, in exchange for then-crown corporation Air Canada's purchase of a large number of Airbus jets...
. The choice of counsel may account for the failure to call some Chrétien friendly witnesses.
During spring 2005, Chrétien legal team made a request to have Gomery removed but it was denied.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
was sympathetic to Chrétien's complaints of bias, stating that the main problem was that the commission's terms of reference did not allow it to investigate Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
's contracting habits as finance minister. Other criticisms concern the lack of powers the commission had to investigate criminal matters, which were being investigated by the RCMP.
Chrétien's lawyers have indicated they are concerned about conclusions which are not based on evidence, but mere extrapolation. Jean Chrétien, on the day the report was tabled in the House of Commons, objected to the findings of the Commission, commenting that Gomery believed the wrong witnesses. "Personally, I believe Jean Pelletier
Jean Pelletier
Jean Pelletier, was a Canadian politician, who served as the 37th mayor of Quebec City, Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister's Office, and chairman of Via Rail...
, a man who dedicated his life to the service of his city, his province and his country," said the former Prime Minister, dismissing's Chuck Guité's testimony. Chrétien believes that Gomery's conclusion that the programme was run out of the prime minister's office is wrong.
Appeal to Federal Court
Subsequent to the release of the first report, Chrétien's lawyers took action in Federal Court to invalidate the report and clear his name. They want the court to review the commission report on the grounds that Gomery showed a "reasonable apprehension of bias", and that some conclusions didn't have an "evidentiary" basis.On June 26, 2008, the Federal Court quashed the Gomery inquiry's conclusions that Chrétien and Pelletier bore responsibility for the sponsorship scandal. Justice Max Teitelbaum criticized Gomery for having a preoccupation with the media spotlight that led him to give interviews he should have eschewed, making comments that indicated he judged issues before all evidence was heard, exhibited bias against Mr. Chrétien, and trivialized the inquiry proceedings. For instance, Teitelbaum pointed out that Gomery's remark halfway through the hearings that "juicy stuff" was yet to come made it appear that evidence of wrongdoing was expected before it was heard. The federal judge also ruled that Gomery's comments on "small town cheap" amounted to a personal insult against Chrétien. The federal government was ordered to pay Chrétien's legal costs. Chrétien and his aides have described it as vindication. However, Justice Teitelbaum's decision is being appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal.
External links
- Federal sponsorship scandal. CBC News Online - October 26, 2006
- Maple Leaf Web: Gomery Commission of Inquiry & Sponsorship Scandal
- Maple Leaf Web: Auditor General Report on Sponsorship Scandal
- Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities
- The Official website for the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities - Government of Canada