Total Search Results: 1
The Week with Mark Sutcliffe
May 16, 2010
This week beleaguered MP Helena Guergis gave a TV interview claiming she still knows nothing of the accusations against her, but the Prime Minister's Office says she was fully briefed by party lawyers. Meanwhile, private investigator Derrick Snowdy appeared before a Commons committee to claim he had no evidence of wrongdoing by Guergis. That has many wondering: why she was tossed from cabinet and the Conservative caucus, and what allegations are still under investigation by the RCMP? Host Mark Sutcliffe discusses the week’s headlines with journalist David Akin. Also on the program, Kevin Gaudet (the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation) speaks over the phone with Mark about the Board of Internal Economy’s refusal to allow an auditor general review of MP expenses. Pardons for convicts are soon to be a thing of the past. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews this week revealed proposed legislation to replace criminal pardons with "record suspensions," and make them harder to get. Some applaud this latest "tough on crime" initiative while criminal defense lawyers decry the changes, saying it makes rehabilitation of former prison inmates more difficult. After two weeks of intense negotiations between opposition parties and the government, a deal has finally been struck to release thousands of documents related to the treatment of Afghan detainees. What happens next? Later, Alex Neve (the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada) joins Mark in the studio to discuss an agreement to release documents pertaining to Afghan detainee transfers to representatives from each of the federal parties.