Fraser to release names Thursday

By ALLISON DUNFIELD
Globe and Mail Update

Auditor-General Sheila Fraser will release a list of names of those
involved in the sponsorship scandal on Thursday at a meeting of the public
accounts committee. Ms. Fraser was supposed to release the names Tuesday
but was not able to attend because of illness, a spokesman for John
Williams, chairman of the public accounts committee, told globeandmail.com.

The list will include names of those in Crown corporations and employees of
the federal government who are believed to be involved in the sponsorship
scandal. Mr. Williams said in an interview with CBC Newsworld that the list
is "not a witness list" but rather a list of issues, facts and
names that Ms. Fraser had agreed to provide to the committee as requested
last week.

He also said that the committee will have broad powers to subpoena anybody
in government or the civil service with the exception of MPs. Mr. Williams
told Newsworld, however, that he has not been contacted by anyone in the
public service who wants to speak to his committee. "That may be
because of the potential intimidation for recriminations by having broken
the law. This needs to be clarified and clarified soon."

Treasury Board President Reg Alcock has said the government plans to
introduce whistleblowing legislation next month. He was to lay out
recommendations for the legislation at Tuesday's committee meeting. But Mr.
Williams said he feels there are junior people who were coerced into
participating in the scandal who may still feel too intimidated to speak
up.

The committee will be held alongside a public inquiry and an RCMP
investigation into the scandal. A report released by the Auditor-General
last week showed that the government's sponsorship program funnelled
millions to Liberal-friendly advertising agencies. The scandal has
sideswiped the Liberal Party, although Prime Minister Paul Martin has held
dozens of press conferences and appeared on talk shows to try to assure the
public that the government will get to the bottom of the matter. He is
attending a private funeral and is not expected to comment on the issue on
Tuesday.

During Question Period Tuesday, opposition MPs asked whether Mr. Martin has
questioned members of the Liberal cabinet on what they knew of the scandal
prior to last week. "Has the Prime Minister asked cabinet ministers
whether they knew about the sponsorship scandal? Yes or no?" asked
Conservative MP Monte Solberg. "No one on this side of the House has
anything to hide," answered Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan.
"Everyone here is committed to finding out what happened here. That's
why we have a public inquiry."

Earlier in the Commons, the Conservatives held a take-note debate, arguing
the Liberal Party was nurturing "a culture of corruption through the
abuse of its influence and the use of public funds for personal benefit and
to benefit friends, family and the Liberal Party of Canada." The
Conservatives said Canadians have the right to know who authorized the
payments and who benefited. Interim Conservative leader Grant Hill said the
best way to solve the problem is to get rid of the Liberal government in
the next election by electing the Tories. A Globe and Mail poll released
Tuesday showed that the Liberals had dropped to a low of 35 per cent
support in the polls, down from 39 per cent on Saturday.

Mr. Alcock told the Commons that he plans to launch a review of the
financial administration act  the backbone of public administration  and a
review of Crown governance. He said he plans to consult with MPs, unions,
employees and ordinary Canadians to put down guidelines "that are a
simple set of rules that talk about what it is to live a life of honour,
because that's what our public service can deliver and that's what
Canadians need."


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