Source : Maclean's

OTTAWA (CP) - Heritage Minister Bev Oda cancelled a re-election fundraiser organized by a broadcasting executive, citing concerns Tuesday that the event would be negatively perceived.

The NDP had taken Oda to task in the Commons for agreeing to participate in the $250-per-ticket Toronto reception because CanWest MediaWorks vice-president Charlotte Bell had helped to organize the function.

Oda is the minister in charge of a major review of the government's television policy, while Bell directly manages CanWest's strategy for dealing with that same policy review. CanWest owns the Global television network as well as a chain of newspapers and various other media holdings.

"There is a spirit of accountability and openness this government is trying to achieve, and we want to be beyond reproach" said Chisholm Pothier, a spokesman for Oda.

Pothier noted that Oda, a former executive at CTV and commissioner with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), had been working in broadcasting for 30 years and was a long-time friend of Bell's.

But he said Oda was not aware that Bell was a lobbyist. In fact, Bell's name does not directly appear in the federal government's registry of lobbyists under the CanWest company name. Pothier said the issue is one of perception - no rules had been broken.

Industry Minister Maxime Bernier was also supposed to speak at the fundraiser for Oda. He is the other cabinet minister who oversees telecommunications policy for the federal government.

Bell was not immediately available for comment.

Earlier in the day, NDP heritage critic Charlie Angus called Bell's involvement in the fundraiser "tawdry," and asked Oda to explain the optics of the event, given the Conservative government's repeated promises to raise the ethical bar in Ottawa.

"Charlotte Bell's job is to meet ministers, is to sell the case of industry, and for her to be out there using her name selling tickets for the minister for a fundraising event, it stinks," said Angus, who said Oda is rarely available to politicians or reporters.

"You can't get a more blatant example of the misuse of a public office than what we're seeing with Bev Oda right now."

Treasury Board President John Baird, the minister in charge of the proposed federal accountability act, took the opportunity to bash the Liberals on the slow pace of the bill. The Senate has had the legislation since June, and is expected to pass it with amendments Thursday.

Said Baird: "The NDP has been a great ally in reform. If we could only have the support of the unelected Liberal Senate, we could make this law today."

He pointed to elements of the bill that ban corporate donations and place new limits on lobbyists, including the requirement to publicly disclose all contacts they have with public office holders.

This is not the first time the Conservative government has acted quickly to respond to accusations of ethical breaches. Last spring, Prime Minister Stephen Harper responded to criticism about lobbying activities by former members of his transition-to-government team and declared they would be retroactively subject to a five-year cooling-off period outlined in the accountability act.

And Public Works Minister Michael Fortier postponed the awarding of a real estate contract for new RCMP headquarters after accusations emerged that the government had been swayed by a Tory lobbyist.

The Conservatives swept to power last January with a platform anchored in the message they intended to clean up the way the federal government does business, and bring a higher ethical standard to Ottawa.

Still, the Liberals accused the Conservatives of hypocrisy in the Commons on Tuesday over other fundraising practices.

They've been dogging the Tories on donations the party has received that exceed the $1,000 per individual spelled out in the yet-to-be-passed act.

"The prime minister and the Conservative party promised to follow the rules of the accountability act from the day it was introduced," said Liberal MP Mark Holland.

"Why then do we now learn from Elections Canada that the Conservatives broke their promise on donations not once but 44 times? Does accountability end for the Conservatives when someone signs a cheque?"

© Maclean's