New Canada PM moves quickly to end scandals
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Martin: No more rides in private jets for ministers.
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Paul Martin is sworn in as the new prime minister of Canada.
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OTTAWA, Ontario (Reuters) -- New Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, trying to clean up government after a series of scandals, Saturday unveiled a tough new ethics code banning ministers from taking rides on private jets and restricting the gifts they may accept.
Martin also scrapped a controversial grant program at the center of a major police probe into how government money was given to companies who were friendly with the ruling Liberals.
"We're going to change the way things work in Ottawa," he told reporters after the first meeting of cabinet since he took over as prime minister from Jean Chretien Friday.
Martin said his first act when Parliament reconvenes in February would be to introduce legislation establishing the office of an independent ethics commissioner, responsible for ensuring ministers stuck to the new rules.
Earlier this year, several ministers in the Chretien government had to apologize publicly for accepting free rides and holidays from a major private corporation in eastern Canada.
Martin also admits he had not acted altogether wisely by accepting rides on private jets belonging to big companies, one of which donated C$100,000 ($77,000) to his successful bid to become leader of the ruling Liberals last month.
The new ethics code bans ministers from accepting rides on jets except in exceptional circumstances—they would also need the prior permission from the ethics commissioner.
Gifts valued over C$1,000 ($770) have to be handed over to the government and all ministers, their aides and senior civil servants have to publish quarterly accounts of their expenses.
Earlier this year a number of bureaucrats and ministerial aides were found to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on expensive meals, first-class travel and top hotels.
Chretien's government also ran into major trouble over a program which gave grants to firms in French-speaking Quebec— then ruled by a separatist party—to boost Ottawa's profile in the wake of a failed 1995 referendum on independence.
Many of the firms turned out to have close ties to the Liberals and police are probing the matter.
Martin said that both the C$40 million ($30 million) a year grant program and the government body which oversaw it would be scrapped.
"If we want to give grants to help in certain cases there are better ways of doing so ... it's not the way to approach what is a fundamental question," he said. Finance Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters the program was "fatally flawed".
It is already clear from the tone of the new government that it will spend less time worrying about separatism in Quebec—a factor which has dominated Canadian politics for the last 35 years—and more on assuaging the feelings of western Canadians, who feel ignored by Ottawa.
Quebec is now ruled by the provincial Liberals and polls show there is little support for the idea of independence in what is Canada's second most populous province.
Copyright 2003
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
