Is It Time For a Public Inquiry?

The Toronto Star has brought to light some allegations that threaten the good reputation of one of Canada’s most important public institutions.

It’s now pretty obvious that even a public inquiry into the actions of certain officials will prove to be of any value because everything from this point on will be circumstantial.

Canadians will likely never know what kind of relationship existed between the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA).  Regardless, millions of Canadians now want to know what relationship exists, and the extent to which the Prime Minister may have abused his office and sent instructions concerning audits and attacks of certain non-Harper organizations.

2014 in Canadian politics offered up a new low, even for the Harper Conservatives.  Ham-stringing the CBC; dodging many legal challenges, especially the Michael Sona trial that should have dragged its net much wider; abuse and misuse of public funds for endless (and failed) propaganda campaigns amounting to more than $600 million per year; relentless denial of climate change and ongoing, unjustified subsidies to the oil patch …

And on and on and on.

To quote Stephen Harper:  it’s just ‘crazy’.

But as far as I’m concerned, none of these issues raise more concern than the destructive and malicious manipulation of the entire Canadian activist ‘scene’ that comes from Stephen Harper’s use of the CRA to audit organizations that still have the balls to stand up against Canada’s number one Fascist.

The CRA is an important public institution that plays a very important role in our society as a public office that pursues legitimate financial matters and complaints.

But again, recent allegations suggested by the Toronto Star indicates that the CRA and officials with Canada’s government may have been deleting text and email messages without the approval of any other public authority or third party.

Isn’t this illegal?  Destruction of public property, right?

Our friends over at Politics and Its Discontents remind us that “under the law, deleting messages for the purpose of restricting access to information is guilty of an indictable offence and could face up to two years in prison or a $10,000 fine.”

In addition to Politics and Its Discontents, other bloggers have discussed this concern, but I think the Canadian public should finally get what it deserves:  a full public inquiry.

As it stands, this issue has come to the attention of Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault:

“If the commissioner is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to investigate this matter, she may initiate an investigation. Investigations under the Act are confidential,” Legault’s spokeswoman Natalie Hall told the Star.

But since any investigation is confidential, how do we know anything’s being done to address concerns about corruption and destruction of public content?

It’s time Canadians find out what’s driving the investigations and audits originating from the CRA.

If we don’t, democracy in Canada and respect for these valuable public institutions are at risk.