Warkentin to chair parliamentary committee on ethics

“At a time when there is so much cynicism about what government is doing and so many demands for transparency, this committee really governs the overall frameworks to ensure that there’s transparency, that there be access to information for Canadians about what the government is doing.”

Warkentin says his committee is currently working on two important studies. One is looking at the scandal surrounding the awarding of a contract worth nearly a billion dollars to the WE Charity to run a student summer grant program, a deal that was later cancelled.

The other is looking at people being exploited on the website Pornhub. He says there have been “horrific stories” about videos of young people posted to such sites.

Warkentin says work on that study is due to start this coming week,

“Monday we’ll hear from the first group of witnesses. We have a victim who will testify as well as some other testimony. We expect to begin that process in the next week. We are now in the process of scheduling witnesses for both studies and for both investigations.”

Warkentin says once the studies are completed, reports and recommendations are to go before parliament. He adds these reports can also contain what are called findings of concern that are meant to let people know what the committee found during its studies. Warkentin adds it is hard to say when these investigations might be completed.

by Curtis Galbraith