CIDA memo doctored on Oda's orders

The Toronto Star:

Ottawa — International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda on Monday admitted she was behind the mysterious “not” that was handwritten on a government document that ended funding for church-backed aid organization KAIROS and its international relief work.

Reversing her earlier testimony at a Commons committee — where she had claimed not to know who penned the extra word — Oda revealed she had, in fact, directed an unnamed official to add the word “not.” “The funding decision was mine. The ‘not' was inserted at my direction,” Oda said in a surprise statement in the Commons.

Oda's statement angered opposition MPs, who said the minister was caught in a clear contradiction in the case, which springs from a 2009 document from the Canadian International Development Agency.

MPs accused Oda of deliberately misleading them at her committee appearance in December, when she repeatedly claimed she had no idea who had changed the document to deny funding to KAIROS. “She seems to be changing her position,” Liberal MP John McKay said.

“We have a real problem,” Liberal MP Bob Rae added, noting how the document leaves the impression that two bureaucrats agreed with the decision to end the funding.

“It's a fabrication of their position,” Rae said. “The story isn't over because I don't think her answers are very compelling today.”

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