{"id":99884,"date":"2020-10-28T13:30:36","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T10:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/dont-let-these-watchdog-reports-collect-dust\/"},"modified":"2020-10-28T13:30:36","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T10:30:36","slug":"dont-let-these-watchdog-reports-collect-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dont-let-these-watchdog-reports-collect-dust\/","title":{"rendered":"#Don’t let these watchdog reports collect dust"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Don’t let these watchdog reports collect dust<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Politics Insider for Oct. 28: The federal procurement ombudsman and correctional investigator publish annual reports, the PM goes for the heart and Lynn Beyak supports Trump\n <\/div>\n
\n Welcome to a sneak peek of the\u00a0<\/em>Maclean\u2019s\u00a0Politics Insider\u00a0news<\/a>letter.\u00a0Sign up to get it delivered\u00a0straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n

When the House of Commons is sitting, ministers table reports. Often, those reports offer detailed accounts of things going wrong<\/strong> in government\u2014and they\u2019re replete with recommendations on how to make things better<\/strong>. Yesterday, the federal procurement ombudsman and the correctional investigator of Canada breathed some life into their work, lest the federal ministers who tabled the documents let them lay fallow.<\/p>\n

Alexander Jeglic, the procurement ombudsman<\/strong>, wrote in his annual report<\/strong><\/a> that the \u201cunnecessarily complex nature of the federal procurement process\u201d is a \u201cconstant source of frustration, creating overly burdensome barriers\u201d for anyone who wants to bid on federal contracts. He advised the government to take more risks (or at least abandon a zero-risk app<\/a>roach). Jeglic also published a handy Top 10 list of complaints<\/strong> about procurement. The top gripe came from suppliers, who \u201cfelt the\u00a0evaluation [of their bids]\u00a0had been\u00a0incorrectly conducted.\u201d<\/p>\n

An annual report<\/strong><\/a> from Ivan Zinger, the correctional investigator<\/strong>, also landed in Parliament. Zinger took a hard look at the Correctional Service, where he concluded \u201csexual victimization exists in the shadows of penitentiaries and is largely ignored or dismissed.\u201d The watchdog also slammed the agency for \u201cfailing to provide offenders with the skills, training and learning opportunities<\/strong> they need to \u2026 live productive, law-abiding lives.\u201d He complained that any work unrelated to the pandemic appears to have been \u201cstalled, delayed or abandoned.\u201d And, finally, Zinger said his recommendations were met with only vague commitments, \u201cvery few clear deliverables or concrete timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the numbers are in on solitary confinement:<\/strong> They\u2019re not good, writes\u00a0Paul Wells<\/strong>, who\u2019s followed another<\/em> saga at the Correctional Service. Anthony Doob<\/strong> gave up earlier this year on investigating the agency\u2019s compliance with a new regime that replaces solitary confinement. No one was giving him the data he needed. Bill Blair<\/strong>, the public safety minister, convinced Doob to finish the job. Yesterday, he sent Wells an interim report that is not flattering\u2014but which the Correctional Service claims still contains incomplete data. Wells is unimpressed.<\/p>\n

Here is how much ignoring you need to do to ignore the fate of prisoners in the darkest corners of our prisons. You need to be unimpressed by a court order<\/strong>. By the Charter. By a new law, duly debated in Parliament. By a team of conscientious investigators<\/strong> who had a year to wait for data they never received. By a spate of embarrassing news stories<\/strong> about the first set of failures. And by a final partial report, which indicates the system is not close to working as designed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Prime Minister of Empathy:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThis sucks. It really, really does,\u201d was how PM\u00a0Justin Trudeau<\/strong> summarized the second wave of COVID-19 that\u2019s stubbornly sweeping across Canada. Trudeau got personal about conversations in his own household. \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating knowing that unless we are really, really careful there may not be the kinds of family gatherings we want to have at Christmas,\u201d he said. \u201cMy six-year-old asked me a few weeks ago, \u2018Dad, is COVID-19 forever?\u2019<\/strong> He\u2019s in grade one.\u201d Watch the full clip<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The latest on Lynn Beyak:<\/strong>\u00a0VICE News reports<\/a> the Ontario senator who was suspended before prorogation\u2014and since reinstated with pay\u2014is in hot water for illegally donating to the Donald Trump campaign<\/strong>. Beyak listed her address as Davis Point Road in Dryden, New York. There is no road by that name in that town, though there is<\/em> a road by that name in Dryden, Ont., where Beyak lives.\u00a0The $300 donation that contravened American laws against foreign interference was, says Beyak\u2019s office, made in error<\/strong>. VICE found no evidence that Republicans, who must report all returned donations, have actually done so.<\/p>\n

A note to our southern neighbours: A pair of Canadian chief electoral officers from New Brunswick and P.E.I.\u00a0told a parliamentary committee<\/a> yesterday that mail-in ballots are not somehow more likely to produce electoral fraud<\/strong>. The procedure and House affairs committee plans to hear from B.C.\u2019s top doctor, Bonnie Henry<\/strong>, on pandemic elections. And they\u2019re also going to quiz top electoral officials from B.C. and Saskatchewan. Y\u2019know, just in case their sage advice comes in handy<\/strong>.
\n<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n