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On October 18th, 2010 the Federal Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet's office released two statements within moments of each other announcing it was being audited by Auditor-General Sheila Fraser, and that Ouimet had retired, effective two days previous.
In a bizarre reversal of our trend an appointee of Harper's who has stifled any effective whistle-blowing, retires and then refuses to be involved in an investigation into her department.
It was reported that the office was being audited and a complaint filed was obtained which mentioned the departure of 18 of the 22 employees of the office in less than a year.
One of the employees, Normand Desjardins describes working for Ouimet; "She was not asking for advice, she had no bilateral talks. She spoke, we listened."
As of the end of January, 2011, Christiane Ouimet still has not responded to repeated requests sent since mid-December for her to appear before the House Public Accounts Committee at its first meeting of the Commons winter session on Feb. 1.
The committee could issue a summons and Ms. Ouimet would be obligated to come. Only MPs, Senators and the Governor General can choose not to attend when summoned to a committee, Parliamentary Law Clerk Rob Walsh told the Ethics Committee last June.