Mounties to investigate Conservative staffer over political interference
Posted March 14, 2011 2:10 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The federal government has called in the RCMP to investigate political interference by a Conservative staffer in an access-to-information request.
Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose has asked the Mounties to probe the actions of Sebastien Togneri.
Togneri is a Tory political aide who demanded that departmental officials “unrelease” a document that was about to be sent to The Canadian Press.
Togneri later ordered that the document be heavily censored.
Ambrose issued the order after a year-long investigation by Canada’s information commissioner concluded that Togneri “interfered” with the request under the Access to Information Act when he had no legal authority to do so.
Suzanne Legault’s 15-page report into a complaint by The Canadian Press also found that all but one public servant handing the request failed in their duties to uphold the law.
