OTTAWA – Disgraced former public sector integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet staunchly defended her time in the job Thursday as she told MPs repeatedly, with pride and conviction, that she executed her job almost without flaw.
After an abrupt resignation followed by months of silence and ignoring or declining requests to appear before MPs, Ouimet sat in front of the House of Commons public accounts committee to answer questions about her controversial $530,000 severance package and the scathing report issued by the auditor general, accusing her of bungling her job.
"The auditor general was wrong," she said. "Her report was flawed . . . and that had the effect of destroying my previously unblemished record of a public servant," she said.
But many committee members and several whistleblowers in attendance had a hard time believing her.
Conservative MP Bev Shipley said this is the only time he has seen such a discrepancy between a report from the auditor general and the version put forth by the office being investigated.
Canadian Forces veteran Sean Bruyea said he was shocked to hear Ouimet’s testimony.
Bruyea, who had his complaint dismissed by Ouimet’s office, eventually won a federal apology and an out-of-court settlement after it was determined some Veterans Affairs officials had shared his sensitive personal and medical information.
"I was astounded at her absolute narcissistic self-absorption," he said. "I couldn’t believe she felt that she was completely right about everything. She believes everyone else is wrong, and it’s her against the world."
And Hugh Danford, a retired man who said his complaints to her office lead to him being threatened and arrested by police, ran after Ouimet as she exited the Parliament building, telling her she should be put behind bars.
Still, Ouimet insisted Auditor General Sheila Fraser had a "profound misunderstanding" of the work performed at the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.
Public and parliamentary interest in Ouimet surged when she abruptly quit her job in October, less than halfway through her seven-year contract, and just as Fraser was conducting her investigation.
Ouimet was appointed commissioner in April 2007 and tasked with protecting government whistleblowers seeking to disclose wrongdoing in the federal public sector.
Fraser’s report, released just weeks after Ouimet’s October departure, blasted the commissioner for failing to do her job properly after finding the office – which has an $11-million budget – investigated only five of 228 complaints filed during Ouimet’s tenure.
Although those numbers are accurate, Fraser neglected to consider that many of the complaints that landed in Ouimet’s office did not fall under her mandate, the former commissioner said.
"As borne out by our experience within the first few years, our office was oftentimes not the appropriate recourse mechanism based on the nature of the complaint."
Each disclosure and complaint that was filed was "subject to a rigorous probe or pre-investigation process lasting weeks or months," Ouimet said. "The procedures ensured that all decisions were made after careful consideration . . . based on consensus at all times, and subject to quality control."
The auditor general’s report – which her office said it will continue to stand by – took two years to complete, Ouimet said.
The "invasive" and "demanding" process took so much out of her, she felt compelled to retire from the public service, she told the committee.
But before she could follow through on her intention to retire, she received a call from her lawyer, telling her she would be receiving a non-negotiable offer to leave her position. The severance package Ouimet left with was worth more than $530,000 and came with what opposition MPs have described as a "gag order."
"I felt I had no choice," she said, saying she did not voluntarily leave her office.
But, she said, she would have stayed in her office had she known that the auditor general was going to table such a harsh report.
By the time she was leaving office, she was receiving death threats, she said.
"As I was leaving my position, the Ottawa Police informed me of an anonymous (caller) who used obscene language and said I would get a bullet through the head," she said. "I have received threats of many kinds during my tenure."
Just hours before Ouimet arrived on Parliament Hill, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that her generous severance package was the "best" and "cheapest" option available to government to remove her from the post.
"The government does not have the legal recourse to fire an individual in (Christiane Ouimet’s) position," he said, adding that the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada is one of several watchdog offices whose heads are supposed to report to Parliament, not the government.
"The government accepted advice from its lawyers about what was the best, the cheapest and fastest way to make a change so that office could get on with doing the job it’s supposed to be doing."
Alternatives to the severance package were more expensive and would have taken longer to act on, Harper said. "We’d still not be looking into the whistleblower cases that are supposed to be looked at."
But the Public Servants Disclosure Act – the law that created Ouimet’s office and outlines her obligations – says government can have the commissioner removed for cause at any time with approval from the Senate and House of Commons.
Thursday was the first time Harper addressed the issue, for which the government has been under fire since documents detailing the severance package – signed in October – were leaked last week.
Fraser’s report also alleged Ouimet berated, intimidated and yelled and swore at her staff – another claim Ouimet vehemently denied Thursday.
"I absolutely refuse ever having inappropriate conduct with any of my employees," she said, saying that some of her employees may have been unhappy because they didn’t receive promotions. "But did I use inappropriate language? Absolutely not."
The committee has agreed to call Fraser and Ouimet for simultaneous testimony at a future meeting.
Almost immediately after the report was released in December, the Commons public accounts committee began sending invitations for Ouimet to appear and provide an explanation for her conduct.
The repeated requests and a summons were ignored, prompting the committee to ask the Privy Council – the public service agency which serves the Prime Minister’s Office and cabinet – to release all documents and communications between the public sector integrity commissioner and the agency.
Among those documents was a departure agreement worth more than $530,000, signed by Ouimet and Wayne Wouters, who, as clerk of the Privy Council, is the government’s top bureaucrat.
The terms surrounding Ouimet’s hasty departure included a clause indicating she could not disclose any information she collected or learned during her tenure as commissioner.
Ouimet was summoned to committee last month but failed to appear.
Lawyer Ivan Whitehall contacted Liberal MP Joe Volpe, who chairs the public accounts committee, and together they negotiated a date for Ouimet to appear before committee.
Many of the files Ouimet dismissed have been reopened since her departure, the government has said.
aminsky@postmedia.com
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