Oda admits she altered aid group funding document

OTTAWA – International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda admitted Monday that she is responsible for modifying a memo that had originally recommended funding for an aid group.

Oda, who was rebuked last week by the Speaker of the House of Commons over the matter, made a statement in Parliament "to set the record straight" and clear up any misunderstanding.

The Canadian International Development Agency cut off funding for the faith group-based organization KAIROS in the fall of 2009 and the controversy over why and who was responsible for the decision has been brewing ever since.

Last year, it was revealed that a memo to Oda originally contained a recommendation from department officials that KAIROS continue to receive about $7 million in funding, but Oda said Monday she disagreed with that advice, and the memo was changed to reflect her decision.

The document in question – which opposition MPs say was doctored – shows that the handwritten word "not" was inserted into the line that recommended Oda, along with the president of CIDA and another top official, approve the four-year funding proposal for the group, which operates anti-poverty projects around the world.

Margaret Biggs, CIDA president, and Naresh Singh, the other CIDA official, both signed off on the positive recommendation for KAIROS before it was sent to Oda for approval and subsequently changed.

"The ‘not’ was inserted at my direction," Oda said in the House of Commons Monday afternoon. "Given the way the document was formatted, allowing only for concurrence, this was the only way to reflect my decision."

Oda said she was sorry if some were led to conclude that she and the department agreed on the funding decision. She also said the way the case has been handled, "including by myself, has been unfortunate."

"It was my decision to disagree with the recommendation based on discussion with advisers," the minister said.

Opposition MPs say Oda’s statement directly contradicts what she told the Commons foreign affairs committee in December 2010 when she was asked who wrote the word "not" on the document and she replied, "I do not know."

During her appearance before the committee and under persistent questioning about where the modification to the memo originated, Oda did not inform the MPs that she was the one responsible for it.

Biggs was also at the meeting and when Liberal MP John McKay asked her if the word "not" was on the document when she signed it, Oda interrupted before Biggs was allowed to answer that the word was absent.

"I find it hard to understand why she’d have such difficulty admitting that in front of the committee just a few weeks ago," Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said following Oda’s statement and apology. "We have a real problem."

The NDP’s Paul Dewar suggested that "someone doctoring a document, that’s fraud."

Opposition MPs were not satisfied with Oda’s statement and said there are more questions for her to answer.

"We have an apology that’s not an apology, we have an excuse that’s not an excuse," said NDP MP Nathan Cullen.

McKay, who filed a question of privilege on the matter after Oda’s appearance at the committee, said the minister has caused more confusion and she should be called before the committee again to explain herself. McKay’s question of privilege asked Speaker Peter Milliken to determine if Oda had deliberately misled MPs about the rejected funding proposal.

The opposition alleges Oda, in previous statements in the Commons, led Parliament to believe that it was the department that withheld approval for KAIROS’ funding because it didn’t meet funding criteria. Now it’s clear the department wanted KAIROS funded and Oda was the one that didn’t.

McKay, however, speculates that the decision actually came from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office.

Milliken ruled last week that he didn’t have enough evidence and that he couldn’t find that Oda deliberately misled the House but that "profoundly disturbing questions" remain unanswered.

In question period Monday, Oda said it was her decision to discontinue funding and that she "would never mislead the House."

The foreign affairs committee met Monday soon after Oda’s statement and agreed to work on a draft report on the matter, which will be discussed further on Wednesday.

Oda’s office declined an interview request.

mfitzpatrick@postmedia.com

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