A scathing ruling by the Commons Speaker Peter Milliken confirms that a key government document signed by International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda and two of her most senior officials was deliberately "doctored."
Milliken called the document tampering "very troubling."
"Any reasonable person confronted with what appears to have transpired would necessarily be extremely concerned, if not shocked," Milliken wrote in his decision.
Milliken said technicalities prevented him from doing anything further about the incident.
Nonetheless, the Speaker's harshly worded ruling and Oda's connection to a doctored document is certain to trigger opposition calls for the minister's head.
Liberal MP John McKay called the incident "morally reprehensible," and told CBC News he will be asking the prime minister to take immediate action against Oda.
He said the affair shows Oda's management of her department has become "a gong show."
The original document in question was from Oda's department, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
It recommended the minister approve about $7 million in funding to a long-established faith-based foreign aid agency called KAIROS.
But sometime after the minister's two top officials had signed the document, someone inserted a hand-scrawled "NOT" into the recommendation.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/02/11/kairos-speaker-oda.html#ixzz1Dfn7dplV